When It Comes to Gratitude, Are We Doing It Wrong?

It's been two weeks since Thanksgiving. Most conversations about thankfulness have disappeared from our timelines, and it's likely the only people still passionately talking about gratitude every day are life coaches and kindergarten teachers. That's the problem with the way most of us do gratitude. It's a fleeting feeling with limited results.

Look: 2016 has been really hard for so many people. I look around in this moment and see so clearly everyone's desire to latch onto the good in their lives; to remember that despite loss, despite the battles that lie ahead, despite a painful political climate and a lot of other realities, we still have so much to be grateful for. That's why I can't help but think that now is the perfect time for a collective leveling up. There's a huge next step beyond the holiday thankfulness lists, beyond the warm and fuzzy feelings, and, well, beyond gratitude. And the good news is that it's pretty easy to do.

Gratitude is just one of many self-help topics that get talked about with pretty predictable cliches this time of year. But if there's one thing that I've learned after years of working in politics, storytelling, and leadership development coaching, it's this: the good we're able to do in the world is often determined by how we live our lives — how we see our identity, habits, values, and goals. So I made a short series of videos to get help you reset this December: quick little shots of truth that can cut through some of the most popular inspirational topics and mixed messages about life to see real impact.

Check out this first one on going beyond gratitude, and tell me what you think. How have you seen this lesson in your own life? How can you take action and put it into practice in 2017? I want to know. Hit me up on Twitter @createdbyerica and let's kick off a "real talk" conversation about being better to do better.