5 Reasons to be Grateful for Your Job

A daily practice of gratitude has been shown to improve your mood, among its many other benefits and there is no better time than the Thanksgiving holiday to begin showing a little gratitude for your job.

Not sure where to start? Try these five reasons to be grateful for your work situation.

1. The job itself. You might simply start by feeling thankful that you even have a job. There are many people out there looking for work, or are soon-to-be graduates anxiously anticipating the job search. You don't have to live with this daily anxiety and have a reason for getting up every morning.

2. Your boss. Yep, your supervisor, whether you like him or her or not, provides you with support in your job or offers you opportunities to grow by being difficult to work with. Either way, your boss provides you with a reason to be grateful.

3. Your co-workers. You likely have some friends and supportive colleagues at work and they are often the reason we enjoy going in each day. Take a moment to appreciate them and even to let them know how grateful you are for their support.

4. Opportunities to learn. Your job provides you with opportunities to learn something new. Sometimes you learn a new skill, sometimes you learn patience, sometimes you learn how to deal with a difficult co-worker, or sometimes you learn how to use new technology or a new program.

5. Opportunities to use your strengths. It's likely you were hired for your job because you have the skills and abilities required. This provides an opportunity to be grateful for the opportunity to apply your strengths to accomplish something worthwhile.

You might also find yourself grateful for a short commute, or a long commute (affording you the time to get something else done), or you are grateful for opportunities to make a difference in the world and in the lives of others.

If you really think about it you'll likely find many reasons to be grateful for your job.

Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Reasons to Be Thankful for Your Job

Some of us (many of us?) spend a good deal of time complaining about our jobs, our bosses, our companies, our salaries, and anything else we can muster a complaint about but, in reality, we have it quite well.

What better time of year to take a few moments and be thankful for our jobs? Need some reasons? Here are five:

1. Be thankful you HAVE a job. Yes, sometimes that old adage "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" applies to your job and while we might spend some serious time daydreaming about another place to work, our current gig is actually pretty good.

2. Be thankful for your co-workers. You likely work among friends or are at least on friendly terms with those you work with. That is a great, and undervalued, perk of the job. I still miss the people from the job I worked at longest (over 16 years). It was a great group.

3. Be thankful for opportunities to learn. Those opportunities can be very different depending on the job. You might be learning a specific skill such as how to code, or you might be learning a "soft skill": how to facilitate a good working relationship with a difficult co-worker or manager. But take some time to appreciate and be grateful for those new skills you are developing.

4. Be thankful for opportunities to apply your skills. Again, like the point above, you might apply some of your strengths and skills in limited ways but if you think carefully about your work you can creatively apply your skills to anything. The skills you have in handling a demanding boss are useful when dealing with an angry customer.

5. Be thankful for the chance to do something of value. Theodore Roosevelt noted that "far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."

What are you thankful for? Do you have a flexible work schedule? A great boss or coworker? Opportunities to advance?

Gratitude: Thanksgiving Day Edition

For the majority of Americans, Thanksgiving Day is devoted to attending parades, consuming feasts, watching football, and preparing to shop on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. It’s certainly a lot for which to be thankful!

But have you ever spent a brief part of the holiday thinking about your career and workplace with a similar sense of gratitude? Below are links to recent e-articles which may help you start or renew the process.

• What to be Thankful for at Work This Thanksgiving: On the blog Fast Track by Intuit QuickBase, contributor Alison Green describes seven work-related things for which workers can be thankful.


• 3 Career-Boosting Steps for Thanksgiving: On the Work, Career & Jobs @ 40+ blog, a Midwestern entrepreneur & HR consultant offers some food for thought: Thanksgiving is the perfect time to take three career-boosting steps to reflect on your career plan.


• 6 Workplace Rights to Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving: US News & World Report contributing writer Alison Green describes workplace rights for which we should be grateful—and not take for granted.