The Gratitude Mindset

After attending meaningful high school graduations this weekend, I found myself drawing powerful parallels between watching teens transition to adulthood and our entrepreneurial journeys. The experience sparked a profound realization about how quickly we dismiss present achievements in favor of future goals.

As entrepreneurs, we're constantly chasing the next milestone—wishing for larger revenues, bigger audiences, more followers, increased traffic, and expanded email lists. This forward focus, while necessary for growth, often blinds us to appreciating what we've already built. I've recently recognized that the clients and audience I'm working with today are exactly the people I was desperately wishing for several years ago. They're my "great pumpkins"—growth-minded individuals eager to expand their businesses and knowledge. Yet I nearly missed celebrating this achievement because I was too focused on what comes next.

This graduation-inspired reflection taught me that business growth requires both ambition and gratitude. Without pausing to acknowledge our progress, we risk never fully experiencing satisfaction when we reach those goals we've been chasing. The goalposts simply move again. I encourage you to take a moment today to evaluate your business journey. Are you building what truly aligns with your vision? How can you continue attracting ideal clients and creating solutions that genuinely serve them? Most importantly, can you recognize that where you stand right now might have been your ambitious dream just a few years ago? Share in the comments one business achievement you're grateful for today—let's celebrate our progress together while still reaching for what's next!

Chapters

• 0:00 Weekend Reflections on Graduations
• 0:35 Wishing Away Business Stages
• 1:23 Gratitude for Current Accomplishments
• 2:40 Evaluating Business Alignment

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

This weekend was monumental in many ways for me, mainly because I had to be there. I didn't have to be. I chose to be there for my next-door neighbor, who has become one of my closest friends, and another one of my girlfriends, whose sons were both graduating this year from high school. And it got me really thinking about life and business, because this is kind of the first real graduation of kids that are now 18, that are seen as adults and moving on in their lives and what do they want to do with their lives and how. I often get told you can't wish this away as far as the age that I am in in those teenage years. And it got me thinking about business, because we often wish certain stages away in our business as well. We look at our business as what's the next best thing that we can be doing? What should we be doing differently? I wish that I was larger as a business. I wish I was making more money. I wish I had more followers. I wish I was getting more traffic. I wish there was more revenue coming in. I wish I had a larger email audience.

Speaker 1: 1:12

All of these things are things that we wish for and I think sometimes what we need to do is take time in the moment and realize the accomplishments that we have made. We often forget those things. We don't take in and be grateful for what we have accomplished and for what we actually have. I personally have to remind myself of this, and it really has come to the forefront of my business and of my audience that the people I work with right now are the people that I wished for three, four years ago, and it took time to get there, but they are the great pumpkins that I wanted. Those are the exact types of people that I wanted, people that want to continue to grow their business, that are always curious about what can potentially they add to what they are doing and how can they improve upon. And I need to recognize, as I want you to recognize, that you need to take a moment to be grateful for what you do have in your business and for what you have accomplished.

Speaker 1: 2:21

I know it sounds so silly and we're so used to setting goals and hitting the next big milestone in our business, but if you don't take time to recognize what you have accomplished and what you have in front of you, you're not going to notice the difference when you move on to the next best thing. You have to take time to reflect and realize that all the work that you have put into your business thus far is according to what you want, or is it? And you need to evaluate that and figure out.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Okay, if I'm not exactly where I want to be, how do I continue to get there? How do I continue to attract those types of people to me? How do I continue to make sure that I'm creating the right product or service that is going to solve the problem that they have? This is such a good reminder and it was such a different way to come about it for me. Grow up, since he was itty bitty, and see him graduate and now moving on to being an adult to then make me realize and reflect upon what I do have in my business and also my personal life is really important, and I want you to make sure that you do the same.