Lying in the emergency room, I moaned (seriously, I can be a little dramatic) that the driver’s apology wasn’t enough… he’s a complete idiot who should have his license revoked!

Really? It’s not safe to go in the water anywhere on your summer vacation?

It turns out that 97.5% (made-up statistic) of the professionals I’ve met over the years don’t regularly take the time to slow down and appreciate their accomplishments. 

“Forty-four percent of employees said they experienced a lot of stress daily, repeating the record high in 2021 and continuing a trend of elevated stress that began almost a decade earlier.” – 2023 State of the Global Workplace

This approach leads to the belief that stopping to be grateful is a waste of time when there’s so much left to accomplish.

There are times when it’s OK to respond out of fear. For example, if you’re being chased by a grizzly bear, it’s completely appropriate to run fearing for your life.   

Our next jerk reaction to a problem (especially a big one) is to throw lots of effort and energy at it. 

The more I pay attention, the more I notice subtle displays of kindness between strangers.

Many years ago, I scheduled a meeting with one of my mentors to ask an important favor. After a few pleasantries, I laid out the case for my appeal telling him that I didn’t need an answer for a few weeks.

While we might not have a lot of impact on our government’s effectiveness or our country’s level of corruption, the top four categories are ones we can do something about.