Why I’m getting specific this year at Thanksgiving

By Paul Walker 

CEO at FranklinCovey | Transforming organizations and enabling greatness 

For years, every November 1st, when my kids still lived at home, my wife would tape a strip of butcher’s paper to our refrigerator and ask each of us to write something we were grateful for every day until Thanksgiving. On day one, it seemed like it would be nearly impossible to come up with something new for the 20-plus days ahead. And in fact, the first few days were a challenge. We’d capture mostly general categories—I’m grateful for my family, my friends, or my wonderful work colleagues. But, as Turkey Day edged closer, we would dig deeper. And each of us would eventually get more specific, and we would remember how abundant our lives really are. 

 This year, I’m going to be specific right out of the gate. I’m grateful I can walk.  

It’s something that’s been on my mind a lot lately because of what recently happened to friends of ours, a married couple. While jogging earlier this fall, the wife was hit hard by a mountain biker. When the accident happened, her husband was already dealing with cancer. Her injuries left her juggling his care along with her own. Today, she is still struggling to fully recover her ability to walk. This awful confluence of events reminded me of how quickly life can fracture our sense of normalcy and how important it is to appreciate the things that we don’t think much about. Things like the ability to breathe, that we have heat in our house, and the kindness of a neighbor. 

In a time and place where we have so many gifts, we can easily take the most basic ones for granted. 

I’ve often thought that the timing of Thanksgiving in the United States, every fourth Thursday of November, is the perfect set-up to transition to the new year. It gives us the chance to consider gratitude more carefully and analyze what really matters. This can help us sort out what's not served us well in recent months, and what might we change in the coming year. With this introspection underway, we are preparing for January 1 and New Year’s resolutions—just around the corner—to refine our plans and chart new directions. 

As leaders, this is also a time when we consider our gratitude to colleagues and partners. In this case, too, my advice is to be specific. If a colleague or a team has done great work, a general “Thank you for all that you do” is nice. But telling them specifically and publicly why you’re thankful can go much further. What did they do well? What was the positive impact of their actions? People are always happy to be thanked, but when you can be specific about their contribution, they really light up with appreciation. It brings teams back to their purpose, and a sense that, even in the compressed deadline months at the end of the year, they are making progress. Their efforts amount to something. Taking the time to recognize hard work and making sure the individuals feel your appreciation will build better relationships and stronger, more effective teams. 

Gratitude is especially helpful in building a culture of people who are willing to be creative, try new things, take worthwhile risks, and cultivate the culture and mindset that can lead to innovation. At my firm, FranklinCovey, we call this a win-win approach to work. 

After all, none of us would go to Thanksgiving dinner and eat all the pumpkin pie before anyone else could have a piece. We wouldn’t think of that as a win! A mindset of abundance is about ditching the “I win, you lose” zero-sum game many people bring to work. Instead, it’s about making a bigger pie together, or bringing lots of pies, for a more satisfying feast.  

Imagine working with a counterpart on a project deciding up front you want it to be a win for both, and that you will not proceed unless each side can feel great about the outcome. That requires appreciation of what each partner brings, which is a kind of gratitude in itself, as well as an abundance mindset. You declare: “We both can win.” 

In Thanksgiving terms, being grateful for what others bring to the table, sharing it with others, and bringing your own gifts along is how we get to enjoy a beautiful meal together. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that in being grateful, we often end up with more than we can eat. Thanksgiving is a tradition that can teach us much in life, and at work. Especially if we notice the simple, specific things that matter most.