After sharing some thoughts about having an attitude of gratitude at the end of a martial arts class I was teaching, a student came up to me and asked, “How do we balance being grateful for what we have with being goal-oriented, driven, and ambitious?”
My answer is by using gratitude as fuel.
When we start from a place of gratitude, we fill ourselves up with a positive type energy. That energy, by and by, puts us in a better state. And when we’re in a better state, we perform better. And the byproduct, of course, are better results.
When we start from a place of entitlement, however, we fill ourselves up with a negative type energy. We feel discontent—like we don’t have enough and, by and by, aren’t enough as people… maybe even feel envy, jealousy, and anger at the people who have what we don’t. This puts us in a worse state, which leads us to perform worse (or in a dirty way), and the byproduct is hamster wheel living—always running in circles getting one thing, moving our desire to something else until we get that thing, and repeating forever onward.
See—gratitude allows us to reconnect with the present; scarcity keeps us focused elsewhere—rarely in the present.
Gratitude keeps us focused on the means. Scarcity keeps us obsessing over ends.
Gratitude fills us up—with energy. Entitlement fills us up—with toxicity.
Don’t confuse gratitude for weakness or with an unambitious-ness. Gratitude is a rocket fuel that’ll launch us further forward than the opposite ever will.