Mar 16, 2023
Did you know gratitude is more than just saying what you are thankful for? Gratitude is the antidote to fear, anxiety and stress. It’s a dose of happiness, wellbeing, and even optimism, despite the odds. Studies have proven that gratitude can actually enhance your creative problem solving abilities. When you experience positive emotions you tap more of your mind.
When you are stressed out your thinking is more rigid, reducing your creative thinking. When you are less stressed you are more open to innovative ideas, and able to make more meaningful connections that lead to new ideas.
In this episode I explore how gratitude is the gateway to creativity and three steps to help you get grateful in any situation.
Tamara’s Everyday Innovator style is Risk Taker Experiential. What’s yours?
Sticky Inspiration: Gratitude is the gateway to your creative mind
Lesson & Action: Get grateful, connect emotions and do it daily with intention
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Join our global Everyday Innovators community on Facebook
Raw Podcast Transcript:
Welcome back everybody. Your host, Tamara here, author of the Books. Innovation is Everybody's Business and Think Sideways and creator of the Innovation Quotient Edge Assessment. The only tool out there that helps you discover your natural innovator strengths. So that you can ignite innovation, influence others, and make an impact.
I am so thankful to be here today, and I think that falls right in line with our topic of discussion for the day, which is gratitude. now, I'm not here today to talk about gratitude in their traditional sense and why you should be a grateful person. I think we all know. We all know that it, you know, leads to a life of abundance.
We know that. It makes us feel good. We know we should be thankful for the things that we have had, that we currently have that we're going to achieve. I think that's all a part of it. I think that's all really important. But I'm gonna take a little bit of a different. , did you know that gratitude is more, so much more than just saying what you are thankful for?
Gratitude is actually the antidote for fear, anxiety, and stress. It combats all those things. It is actually a dose of happiness. Well, and even optimism despite the odds. Here's the cool part about gratitude. Studies have proven that gratitude can actually enhance your creative problem solving abilities.
Isn't that cool? So when you experience positive emotions, you actually tap more of your mind. It's why when I find myself a little bit stuck in a rudd or getting really frustrated because I can't figure out how to do something, or you know, the email I need to write, or the solution to that big problem, whatever it is, instead of just white knuckling through it, sometimes I'll just stop and write out a list of the things that I'm grateful for and get myself into that.
not just because I don't wanna be all curmudgeony and negative, I don't want that, but also because I need to tap more of my mind to solve the problem. And the funny part is I often find that when I do that, when I'm stuck and I stop and just take a second to be grateful for things that that solution that I've been looking for, that path to success, that innovative idea that's been alluding me is actually right in front of my face.
Funny how that works isn't. According to the Stress Rx founder, Peter slac, hope I'm saying your name right. Gratitude affects the Olympic system of your brain replacing fear, dread, doubt, and cynicism with gratitude, joy, and possibility. Now, I think we all know that fear, dread, doubt, and cynicism, those things suck us under, don't they?
They make us insecure. They tend to lead to bad decisions when we. decisions based on fear doesn't often go well, does it more often, not dread, doubt, cynicism. Those things make us feel small, play small. It keeps our ideas close in and incremental, so we never get that. Those innovative, creative solutions are gonna really help us move things forward, but gratitude replaces those with joy and possib.
Those are the things that tap more of your brain. So like I was saying, if I feel particularly stuck or kind of in the weeds of a challenge, I can't seem to get my head out of, or if I know I'm going into a stressful situation, like a big meeting or a, a conversation with someone that I know is gonna be tough, I'll actually not just take five minutes to plan out.
What am I gonna say? What is the outcome I'm looking for? I'll actually take five minutes to write down what I'm grateful for in the moment. , and I'll also write down how that gratitude makes me feel. I'm gonna talk more about that emotion part in a minute. And often that list includes small things, like a hot cup of coffee or warm house slippers, or big things like the opportunity ahead of me, or the success I've had, or you know, all the everyday innovators in our community that show up to our, on our live events all the time.
It can be a range of things. So what I wanna do, For our sticky inspiration and for our lesson for today is I wanna get right to it, and I wanna give you three things that you can do to reduce stress and increase gratitude so that you can get to those innovative ideas. You can get to that place of happiness and joy and possibility because it's in that.
that we find the solutions that we're looking for, we find the innovative ideas that push us further faster. Okay. Here's what I want you to do. Number one, I want you to list out 10 things you are grateful for. Now, I know 10 may seem like a lot, but it will push you to look past the obvious and find gratitude in the small and.
unnoticed things. I'm gonna share with you in a minute my list, and you'll see as I'm going through my list, some of 'em are pretty obvious and some of 'em, it took me a second to get to them, but once I, once I got there, I was really happy that I did. So, 10 things that you're grateful for. Then number two is I want you to take five minutes to record your.
After you make your list, think about the feelings gratitude brings you. Think about the things on your list, how they make you feel. Perhaps it's joy, peace, or just simply feeling less stressed or accomplished. Here's the reason why we do it with emotions. Emotions are like, Best way to say data logs in our brain.
And so we wanna connect what we're grateful for with emotions we wanna feel, because that emotions, when we unlock those positive emotions, that's where we unlock our best everyday innovator inside of us. So this will help us connect our brains to the happy feelings that come with gratitude, to the feelings that get us to that better place and lead us to actions.
You know, we always talk about being logical creatures with some emotions, but the reality is we're emotional creature. with a little bit of logic or a little bit of action. Emotions drive not just our thinking, but our actions, and they happen fast. So we wanna connect those feelings that we get from the gratitude and the things that we're listing out to the actual emotions that they create, so that we can imprint those on our brain and we can access those quickly and when we need them most.
So then number three is practice. Writing down what you're grateful for every day isn't just being about good person. That's all great, but also it's about continuing to open up those creative problem solving skills and positive emotions. It continually puts you into that frame of mind of being the everyday innovator that you are.
Now, if you've taken our assessment and you know your everyday innovator style, it will access that. with a snap of a finger. So I'm a risk taker, experiential, so I'm all about bold, tangible innovation. So when I create gratitude, I go into my best self, into my most innovative self, almost instantly. For someone who's a collaborative, inquisitive, who's about whole and deep innovation, right?
Doing their gratitude list is gonna access that and their way of being innovative and their think. instantly. For someone who's a futuristic, imaginative who's all about forward novel innovation, it's gonna tap that instantly. So I think practicing gratitude shouldn't just happen in the moments where you need it most.
Absolutely use it there, but also if we start to do it every day, we get the compounding benefits of it. So number one, list out 10 things you are grateful for. Push yourself to really list out. Number two, take five minutes to record your emotions, imprint the emotions connected to that list into your brain so that you can tap those feelings, get the benefit of those feelings in that moment and all the other times you need it.
And number three, with intention practice daily so that you can step into being an everyday innovator. Every single. All right, so as I was recording this just a few minutes before I hit record, actually, I wrote down the 10 things I'm grateful for today and the emotions that they connected that connected to them.
So let me share these with you and you'll see what I mean about why 10 million matters. So number one is the sun window next to me while I work, I have a big, I guess it's called a storybook window. You know when it's kind of like a, so almost a floor ceiling window and it lets in the morning sun and it feels so good against my face, against my arm as I'm working.
I love it. So number one, as I love this, I'm so grateful for this window and my little workspace. Number two, I'm so grateful that I can work virtually and from anywhere. And in fact, yesterday I got. From a, how long was I on four or five day trip? Here's the thing. I wanted to go check out this area, this beautiful lake, and um, but I had work to do, I had live events, right?
I had a deep dive. I had an innovation jam session. I had some elite coaches, those who are certified, I had an event for them, but guess what? I can work from anywhere. So I worked from this Airbnb on this lake and. Amazing. So I'm so grateful. As tired as I am today, my first day kind of back at my desk, I'm grateful that really with some planning, I can work from just about anywhere.
Number three, I'm super grateful for our new puppy barley, who is a St. Bernard. Um, My fiance and I went to Switzerland. In fact, that's where we got engaged and then we fell in love with the area we were in Lake Tune and with St. Bernard's. Oh my gosh, they're the most beautiful, big cuddle buns ever. So we got one, and she's amazing.
And her name is Burley. So I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful. Number four, that I have a soon-to-be husband that shares the big dreams that I have, and not just always that they're the same, but. He like me, dreams really big, almost to others, unrealistic, but to us, something to go for. I'm so grateful to be with someone who dreams in a way that others seem unreal, seems unrealistic, and to both of us is like, yeah, that's what we're gonna go for.
I love that. It's really important to be with someone who has that same level of dreams that you do. Okay. Number five. I'm grateful for the fact that when I got home last night, The house was only slightly messy. So this morning I only had to spend a little bit cleaning up. The, my two boys were here watching our dog and watching the house and hanging out.
And, um, you know, I thought I was gonna come back to a hurricane, but I didn't. So when I woke up this morning, I was grateful that it just took me a few minutes to clean some things up. Thanks boys. All right, number six. I'm grateful for my CrossFit gym, Mach 9 83. I love that place. The community's amazing.
The people are amazing. They. , even though I go at five o'clock in the morning, which I know sounds crazy to some people, I just always walk away happier than when I walked in. I just love being with those people. Number seven, I'm grateful for my coffee mug, which is this super cool mug that I got when I was visiting Alaska, and it's black and red and white and it's got that cool kinda like tribal pattern on it.
I just love it. Number eight. . I am grateful for the pictures of my family that I have on the wall in front of my desk so that I get to look at them, and it reminds me of the people that I love. Number nine, I'm pretty grateful that the house is quiet right now while I'm recording this. You know, this whole open floor plan seemed like a great idea until we were all home all the time, and now I'm like, I don't know.
I think I need a door. So right now I'm pretty grateful that the house is quiet and there isn't so much noise going on that I have to stop every five. I have those days too. Okay. Number 10. The last thing I'm grateful for is the fact that in, when I'm done with this recording, I've gotta pack up, take my boys out for spring break tomorrow.
So we're headed on a little road trip and I'm pretty excited to, to get going and explore some new places with them. So I got a lot. That's my 10 to be grateful for. But you can see when you do 10, you gotta really stretch yourself and think about some things that maybe you overlook on a day-to-day basis, like my mug, things like that.
I also wanted to share with you that the emotions that I connected with it and that I want to imprint in my brain. So there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of them. So the first one is I feel accomplished in myself. Like I built a business that allows me to work virtually, that I work with amazing people. I've got this globe full of everyday innovators.
That's just so cool and all of you impact me and teach me so much so, but I feel accomplished that I worked hard to get to this place and I've got more than I wanna accomplish. But that sense of accomplishment actually keeps me going. The second emotion I wrote down is satisfied. I'm satisfied that I'm doing my best, trying my best, giving it my all going for those unrealistic dreams.
Number three is happiness just makes me happy. My mug makes me happy. Drinking coffee out of it makes me happy. Looking at my family makes me happy, and that leads me to my second emotion, which of course is love. I look around, I'm surrounded by the people and the things that remind me of those people and experiences that I.
The next one I wrote down was excitement. Um, you know, I've got some more travel coming, I've got more big things happening at work. So that leads to excitement. And that excitement for me is like a bunch of really excited butterflies that forced me into action because the butterflies are excited to get going.
And then lastly, the other emotion I had was hunger, right? In an emotional sense to achieve more. So, I look at all these things and I get so grateful, and then I'm grateful for the fact that I'm gonna keep going and that there's more to achieve. And it makes me a little. So accomplished, satisfied, happy, love, excitement, hunger.
Those are the emotions that are attached to these. And as you can see, I'm grateful for a lot of things, big and small for my 10 things here today. And those emotions really matter because those are the emotions that unlock. The creative problem solving the strategic thinking. I mean, just to really sum it all up, it unlocks your everyday innovator mind, which I'll tell you again, the research has shown as we dug into the neuroscience, behavioral psychology of it all.
Being innovative is universal. We all do it. However, how we innovate is unique to each of us, and in fact, have you have not gone and taken the iqe, the innovation, quotion Edge assessment. And discovered your everyday innovator style. I would jump over to the website and do it. I'm sure there's a link in the show notes on our webpage everywhere else.
Go to launch street.com as a website. You can find it there. I would encourage you to go do that because knowing how you innovate is gonna make it so much easier to access. Knowing your strengths. It's gonna make it so much easier, less stressful, less exhausting. For you to actually become that everyday innovator across work and life and being that everyday innovator is what gets you what you're going after.
That was so not articulate, , but you get my point, right? It's what gets you to your goals and your dreams and what gets you around and under and through those brick walls that are holding you back, kind of both mentally and right in front of you, in reality, in real world. So go take the assessment. , if you haven't.
There are nine triggers, ways that we as human innovate, and what each of us has is something called a unique everyday innovator style. No two are alike. Where we have two that are our top two power triggers, our wellspring of innovation, and then one dormant trigger, which is our least powerful play. So for example, I'm an a risk taker and experiential, that's my power.
Those are my power triggers. My dormant trigger is collaborative. I will talk more about what that really means. What I want you to do, forget about me, is I want you to find out about you and how you. and when we're done with this podcast, how about you go write up 10 things that you're grateful for, write down those emotions and make gratitude a part of your everyday practice so that you can be an everyday innovator all day, every day.
Tamara Out.