Thanks Given - Day Twenty Two

Well, today is the big day. The day in which the whole country sits down at a table together and says thank you. Today, I am thankful for this blog and the "attitude of gratitude" I have acquired during this month of Thanksgiving.  

About four years ago, we went to a motivational seminar in which some big names spoke. One of them was George Ross of Apprentice fame and I've already blogged about what an impact that made on me. The other speaker was Zig Ziglar. I have read a few of his books and see his quotes sprayed about on Facebook almost weekly. At the time, Zig had recently fell down the stairs and had problems with his short term memory. His daughter interviewed him and helped to keep him on task throughout his segment. It seemed that his fall caused him to get waylaid and repeat himself frequently. I remember smiling because he did do that occasionally, but you could tell that he had told the stories so many time, they were right there on the tip of his tongue. 

Zig is famous for his one liner motivational quotes. Here are just a few...

Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. 

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want. 

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.

The day that we saw him, he continued to come back around to his attitude of gratitude. He talked about a wall of gratitude that he had in his office with photos of all of the people who helped him get to where he is today. He must have returned to these talking points three or four times during the interview with his daughter. It was obviously an important part of his outlook on life. In any case, it stuck with me. 

This is a link to a video of his Wall of Gratitude. I wanted to embed it but it won't allow me to do it. It's worth a watch. 

Has my life been perfect during these twenty two days of giving thanks? Nope. Have I whined and complained and been grumpy at home and work? Yep. Would blogging about any of those things made it any better? Absolutely not. So, I'll leave you with two final thoughts from Zig. I think this is a key to why giving thanks daily has improved my life over the last twenty two days. 


Of all the “attitudes” we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life changing.


Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. 

I will end this "Thanks Given" on Day 30, just like I had planned. But, I am hopeful I can remember the lessons I have learned this month and that I can carry the attitude of gratitude throughout the year.