Gratitude Can Make You and Your Team Stronger
Carter Schelling of MHA looks at the research on gratitude and shares practical rituals, like the gratitude letter, that PT business owners can use to strengthen themselves, their relationships, and their teams.
Full transcript
Generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability.
Good afternoon. I'm Carter Schelling, director of business development at Martin Healthcare Advisors. And for the last several years, my production company has helped Paul create his terrific library of video interviews and presentations, many of which were shot right here in this studio. You know, about this time of year, Paul normally does a show about giving thanks. And this year, I asked him if I could step in and offer my thoughts on something really powerful. The quiet but remarkable power of gratitude. You know, in addition to helping Martin Healthcare Advisors, I run a consulting firm called 3655 Incorporated.
And for the last 42 years, I've been helping business owners build extraordinary companies in ordinary industries. And as part of my job, I will look at the outside world, often through something I call the lens of extraordinary leadership. Asking myself what lessons can be learned here about how to build an extraordinary company. A few years ago, I turned the lens of extraordinary leadership on Thanksgiving. And the reason is it is for me Thanksgiving has always been sort of a straightforward deal like I've been very lucky in my life.
I've been blessed. So that when it comes to Thanksgiving, I think of it as a responsibility as well as a nice time with my family and football and that kind of turkey, all that kind of stuff. I feel that my job at Thanksgiving is to address my debt of gratitude, to pay off my debt of gratitude by giving thanks for all that I've received in my life. That's how I used to see it until I Googled the word gratitude. Oh wow. I had no idea. Do you realize that an entire branch of the science of psychology is dedicated to the study of gratitude?
What it is, what it does, etc. And that there are experimental researchers at work right now discovering all kinds of cool stuff about what happens when you truly express gratitude. Now as physical therapists you know that there are studies that show that with exercise people put in what is 150 minutes a week you know they stay healthier they feel better. Well the researchers in the science of psychology have discovered that with gratitude with people consciously deliberately continually expressing gratitude they stay healthier. You feel better. Huh?
In fact, when it comes to expressing gratitude yourself, people who do that deliberately, routinely, in their studies, they've discovered people have more stamina, more resilience, they sleep better, they're more resistant to disease with better heart health and a better state of mind. It's amazing. In fact, just as when they for themselves, when they're in a relationship and they express gratitude toward the other person, the other person becomes healthier, the other person feels better. They come closer and the relationship becomes richer. Finally, when people express gratitude at work, the people they express their gratitude toward, people who work for them feel more confident.
They get more productive and they become more generous. I mean, this is a real bonanza. This is terrific. What we're really saying here is that with gratitude, the people you and the people around you become physically and emotionally stronger and more generous. Now, you're a leader. People look to you for guidance. Take a look at the world around you. For the last two and a half years, we've been beat up and we're exhausted and in many ways weakened and our country is divided because of what we've been through.
We've only just begun to recover from this. We could use something to help people be physically and emotionally stronger and more generous. I could. Could you? So let's look at well how do we get it you know expressing gratitude is the term we used the researchers have discovered that it's not an attitude of gratitude it's not a feeling it's an action and to be effective the action has to interrupt normal activity which means for yourself you have to do something that interrupts your normal thinking flow and makes you focus on what you're grateful for with all of your attention.
If you're with someone else and you're sharing your gratitude, it has to be a powerful moment, a true gift from your heart, heartto-heart that interrupts the normal conversation, interrupts the normal flow, and just focuses both of you on how grateful you are for what they've done for you. Which means we have to have rituals around this. Let me give you three examples. The first one I I'm bringing up because researchers say it's the most powerful way to utilize gratitude in your life. It's called the gratitude letter.
Starts with think of someone in your life who's really helped you or really done something important for you. Sit down, handwrite a letter about what they have done and what it's meant to you and how grateful you are to them. Then go see them. Read it to them. This is what I mean by interrupting the normal flow of conversation. Okay? When you do this, it may not seem like much, but if you have it come straight from your heart, you'll find it is a big deal for them and it's a big deal for you.
Number two, the three a day gratitude vitamin. Get a pad of paper, put it on your bed table. At night before you go to sleep, just jot down three things from the events of the day that you're grateful for. Not say big things, just like, "Ah, yeah, glad that happened. I was really lucky." Three things you're grateful for. Go to sleep. When you wake up, before your feet hit the floor, pull the pad, read the three things that were really good yesterday and then do it again tonight.
What this does is it starts your nervous system off at the beginning of the day in the plus column, okay? With the good things that have happened. It gets you going in the right direction. Trust me, if you start your nervous system like that, it'll take care of you throughout the day. Number three, make praise personal at work in particular. This can actually help you strengthen your company's competitive advantage. On a on Fridays when things start to slow down, do a brain scan of your people and ask yourself, which of my people is either recently or regularly really contributing to what makes our company great?
What makes our company better than our competitors? What we call your competitive advantage. Who's living the dream of what I have of how people can operate here to make us the best. Then next week, sit down for 20 or 30 minutes with that person one-on-one and explain to them how powerful their contribution is to something that's very important to you personally, your company's competitive advantage. Personally because I've worked with business owner operators for 42 years and one thing is always true. The good people want to please you even if you're not their boss.
The owner of the company is someone everyone wants the approval of. So when you share with them, not only praise for what they've done, but when you thank them for the contribution it makes to what's extremely important to you and you thank them personally, it lights them up and you get a highly motivated employee for free. It'll also probably light you up as well. So, let me wrap up by letting you see what from my perspective as a person who's worked in many industries thinks you can be grateful for just because you work in rehab.
Number one, over 20 top-notch private equity firms with really smart people in them have surveyed the entire business landscape and chosen to pursue your industry for consolidation. Why? Because among all others, it's one of the best at remaining stable through good and bad economic times. Not everybody can say that, but you can. Number two, through Paul's interview series, I've gotten to know a little bit about all of the top CEOs of the biggest acquirers in our industry. And I got to tell you, for the most part, they're really great guys, okay?
They've been physical therapists themselves. They've given care to people and they care about clinical excellence for real. In addition, they're good business people and they want you when you become their partner to be successful. No kidding. You know, this may surprise you, but I actually think that over time our industry is going to get better at giving patients what they care about as these companies get bigger. Not many industries can say that for sure, but you can. Finally, when you have a bad day at the office, when the business part of your business isn't working and things aren't going well on the business side, you still get to have the satisfaction of knowing that on that day, your team helped a lot of people feel a little less pain and a lot of people feel a little more hope for a brighter future.
Very, very few business owners can say that, but you can. Congratulations and thank you for what you do. All of us at Martin Healthcare Advisors are very grateful for the collaboration support you've given us over the years. If it wasn't for you and our other clients, we would never have become the number one rehab M&A firm in America. Thank you. And happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from everyone here at Martin Healthcare Advisors.
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