Ep193 David George Brooke - The 5-Minute Habit That's Transforming Companies from the Inside Out

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:12:02
David George Brooke
because we all know that life is not fair nor easy, and it's also this big roller coaster ride. And so when you're flying high and you're up here, it's great, but what do you do when you're down low? And that's where gratitude really comes in. They can really help you.

00:00:14:16 - 00:00:24:12
Mike O'Neill
welcome to Get Unstuck and On Target, the weekly podcast that offers senior leaders insights and strategies to not only lead with competence and vision,

00:00:24:16 - 00:00:27:12
Mike O'Neill
but also to achieve groundbreaking results.

00:00:27:23 - 00:00:37:23
Mike O'Neill
I'm your host, Mick O'Neill. I coach top level executives on the power of ethical leadership to forge teams to be as united as they are effective

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Mike O'Neill
in each episode.

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Mike O'Neill
Join me for insightful conversations with leaders just like you, providing practical advice to help you get unstuck and propel you and your company forward.

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Mike O'Neill
Let's get started.

00:00:56:24 - 00:01:26:19
Mike O'Neill
Welcome to Get Unstuck and On Target. I'm Mike O'Neill, and today we're exploring a topic that has the potential to transform both your personal life and your leadership. Gratitude. I'm excited to introduce you to David George Brooke, known as that gratitude guy. David's journey from a corporate management to becoming a gratitude expert is not just fascinating. It's a powerful example of how shifting our perspective can lead to remarkable change.

00:01:26:21 - 00:01:52:22
Mike O'Neill
In my work as an executive coach, I've seen firsthand how cultivating gratitude can be a game changer for leaders. It's more than just expressing thanks. It's about developing a mindset that enhances resilience and improves decision making, and it strengthens team connections. During our conversation, David will share practical strategies for incorporating gratitude into your daily life and leadership approach.

00:01:52:24 - 00:02:23:09
Mike O'Neill
Will explore the impact of gratitude journaling and how expressing appreciation can transform workplace dynamics. Here's a small challenge as you listen. Pay attention to how David demonstrates active listening throughout our discussion. It's a crucial leadership skill that ties directly into practicing gratitude. Are you ready to discover how gratitude can elevate your life and leadership? Let's dive in with David, George, Brooke and unlock the power of appreciation.

00:02:23:09 - 00:02:56:22
Mike O'Neill
Joining me is David George Brooke, known as that gratitude guy. In a world will negativity often it just dominates headlines. David's message of gratitude is more important than ever. David's an accomplished speaker, coach and bestselling author with over 30 years of corporate management experience, including as a former Nordstrom store manager. He has become an expert in gratitude. Brooke is the author of several books, including Six Word Lessons to Embrace Gratitude.

00:02:56:24 - 00:03:23:17
Mike O'Neill
He has delivered over 850 speeches and workshops, including more than 150 virtual presentation in the last 18 months alone. As a YouTube influencer, Brooke has created over 2300 gratitude videos, reaching thousands. He frequently travels to share his message and he lives in written Washington. Welcome, David. George. Brooke.

00:03:23:18 - 00:03:33:01
David George Brooke
Thank you. Mike O'Neill. Great to be here. I always think who wrote that introduction. Oh, wow. Is that really true? So thank you for that nice introduction. Well, it's.

00:03:33:01 - 00:03:50:14
Mike O'Neill
So easy to introduce you because I've had opportunity to get to know you. So this is not the first time we've had a chance to, chat. I very much would love to spend time with you understanding what you mean with how gratitude can really change your life.

00:03:50:16 - 00:04:11:05
David George Brooke
Right? Absolutely. And I think the thing is, is that gratitude. I have a couple of key sayings and attitude of gratitude. People have heard a gratitude mindset. One of my favorite sayings is gratitude turns what you have into enough. And so it really comes down to a mindset and how you approach life. And, you know, one of the ones it's it's been around for years.

00:04:11:05 - 00:04:27:00
David George Brooke
But I love it. The glass half full versus the glass half empty. I choose to look at it as half full. I had a father that looked at it half empty. I've had many negative friends that are no longer, friends of mine. Or maybe they're now acquaintances or whatever, because I just don't subscribe to that type of mindset.

00:04:27:02 - 00:04:45:13
David George Brooke
But it could just help you. So much. And we'll talk a little bit later about the gratitude journal. And that's really a that's a really kind of a centerpiece of what I talk about, because there's this power in writing things down. And I'm so grateful to Mike O'Neill for inviting me to the podcast and how it centers and plants in your brain and so forth.

00:04:45:15 - 00:05:05:11
David George Brooke
But when we think about people that are in a good mood or a bad mood or they're one of the terms I liked, somebody said recently said you're kind of a high functioning individual. And I thought, oh, that's nice, especially as I get into my later years here. But it just it's so powerful. And I alluded to this earlier about how when you can impact people's lives.

00:05:05:11 - 00:05:27:15
David George Brooke
And it's interesting. Somebody said they asked him one day, how do you define success? And I went, well, I said I would break it down into personally and professionally and personally is the success of my two sons and a 40 year old son and a 30 year old son, and I call him a rock star sons, because they're just off the charts, who have jobs and jobs on the side, and one's getting married.

00:05:27:15 - 00:05:56:04
David George Brooke
One's already married with three or excuse me, two. And now a third grandchild to come and so forth. But professionally, I rate my success on how many lives I get to change in any given week. And that comes down to video comments, notes, cards, tags, voicemails, calls, all that type of thing. When people say, you changed my life and all I did is expose them to this attitude of gratitude, and I think that's why I'm so passionate about it, because it's a lifestyle.

00:05:56:04 - 00:06:12:12
David George Brooke
It's a mindset that can get you on the right track, because we all know that life is not fair nor easy, and it's also this big roller coaster ride. And so when you're flying high and you're up here, it's great, but what do you do when you're down low? And that's where gratitude really comes in. They can really help you.

00:06:12:14 - 00:06:33:05
Mike O'Neill
David, you mentioned, that you are out there in so many different platforms. When you're recording a YouTube video, it's you recording and it goes out. You're not quite sure how it's going to receive unless you get comments you share. Right before we hit the record button, just yesterday, you spoke to a large group, right? As a public speaker.

00:06:33:06 - 00:06:46:04
Mike O'Neill
Let's talk about that just a little bit. When you're getting in front of a group, what does that do to you personally when you are given that opportunity to speak to perhaps hundreds of people at one time?

00:06:46:06 - 00:07:04:03
David George Brooke
Sure. And one of the things, Mike, is that back during the pandemic, we all went through that. And so there was a lot of difficult times for people. So I switched over to zoom and did about 75 or 100 video calls or zoom calls, rather on gratitude. During the pandemic. It was tougher as we were all adjusting to that.

00:07:04:05 - 00:07:21:24
David George Brooke
So now I'm getting back in front of the audiences again, and it's really great because zoom is fantastic, but you got these little postage sized, stamp sized pictures at people and that's all you got, and you can't make the same eye contact. And even when I was doing those, I was doing give me a thumbs up, give me two thumbs up, give me a high five.

00:07:21:24 - 00:07:40:23
David George Brooke
And you're trying to get people involved because they're in their their bedrooms or their offices or wherever they are. So but you used yesterday as an example. The thing that's so neat about it, there's nothing quite like being in front of a live audience. And I remember years ago watching some of these famous movie stars be on Johnny Carson or whatever.

00:07:40:23 - 00:07:59:16
David George Brooke
The thing was a night show later at night, and they'd say, they're going to go do Broadway plays and they said, well, they just couldn't wait to get back in front of a live audience. And it didn't really occur to me at the time. And I realized later, well, of course, when you're making a movie, it's a couple of actors or actresses in front of a camera and directors and film guys and sound guys.

00:07:59:16 - 00:08:26:04
David George Brooke
Like, I think there's no audience there. And you say something funny or clever, nobody's laughing, you know, because it's just it's all recorded. But to get in front of a live audience is just the best. And so coming on the heels of that yesterday, not only the experience of watching all these people, you know, not so much hanging on every word, but really paying attention, you know, and you can see because they have a handout for all these people where they had different the forms they filled out and things, it was very interactive.

00:08:26:04 - 00:08:43:18
David George Brooke
It wasn't just me talking for an hour 45, almost two hours. And so they're doing things and write down the things you are most grateful for. And then the association evaluator, who should you associate with more of who she associate with less. So there's all those things going on. And so the more interactive it is, the more it plants in their brain.

00:08:43:20 - 00:09:05:24
David George Brooke
But one of the things that that to your point about the what does it do for me is I'm going to talk about this a little bit later. But that gratitude guys daily gratitude journal I sold a lot of these yesterday. And you can get them online too. And there's a little scene in the front of this that says, and I just mentioned this when I'm grateful to Mike O'Neil, if you think about it, just like a dream, if you talk about it, it inspires you.

00:09:05:24 - 00:09:29:20
David George Brooke
But if you write about it, it empowers you. So when I'm writing that in my brain, I will write that tomorrow when I'm going to write the highlight of my day, one of my highlights will be having the podcast with Mike O'Neil in the paper with the pen, and it's going to be recorded. And so one of the things that's in the Journal, if we have time, I'll go through the template possibly, but is your what I call your daily number and ten is your, best day ever.

00:09:29:20 - 00:09:46:12
David George Brooke
And one is a terrible day. So you kind of rate yourself. And so I tell the people they did this yesterday, is it maybe you're seven and a half or eight. You're doing pretty good. You could be a nine, but also maybe you're a 3 or 4 and you're having a tough day. So they write the number and then they write in the gratitude journal.

00:09:46:15 - 00:10:08:09
David George Brooke
And then after the gratitude journal, after they've written in it, they write another number. And nine times out of ten it goes up. And so I say, now you write that all the things that you wrote about what you're grateful for, how many people's number went up in about 75, 90% of the cans go up. And so the reason I bring that up is that that when I walk off the stage, I'm usually at 8 or 9 almost every day.

00:10:08:09 - 00:10:25:05
David George Brooke
I write in it after I write it, and I'm at either nine, nine and a half, but every time I walk offstage, I'm a ten. I just guaranteed ten, you know? And then I didn't get a standing ovation yesterday, but I get standing ovations about half the time. And so you just walk off him just like, this is like the coolest thing.

00:10:25:05 - 00:10:41:05
David George Brooke
How do they how do they ever go? I remember the days I had to drink so much water because my mouth was dry and it was in the beginning and so forth, and going to every Rotary and Chamber and Kiwanis. I did a prison once, hospitals, libraries, different things, and then just bringing in my books. And here's our speaker.

00:10:41:05 - 00:11:05:18
David George Brooke
And then you get like five people there and stuff. And so it's just really neat to watch it grow. But the biggest thing is, is having a topic like gratitude that so many people and I, I'd mentioned this about 4 or 5 might have been more than that. Six ladies came to the book table, bought some journals, but also were in tears and asked if I could give them a hug because they said, you changed my life today and I needed this today because I was having such a terrible day.

00:11:05:20 - 00:11:15:19
David George Brooke
So when you see you have that impact on somebody and it's face to face versus, again, video or zoom, it's just the most incredible feeling.

00:11:15:20 - 00:11:39:03
Mike O'Neill
David, I mentioned another book. I skipped the journal because I knew we will be coming to that. And those watching, would you mind holding that book up again, please? Oh, sure. Yeah. Can I tell you the the reason why I skipped it? It is entitled that Gratitude Skies Daily Gratitude Journal. I thought I would get tongue tied and wouldn't be able to say it, so, but there's something about what you just said that resonates.

00:11:39:03 - 00:11:54:08
Mike O'Neill
And that is when you one are purposeful on a daily basis and you take the time to write something down, what is it about writing things down that helps things stick?

00:11:54:10 - 00:12:16:04
David George Brooke
Well, it does plant it in your brain. I should do I had that saying, and when you write it, it empowers you. But I should actually do a little more research. I do a thing on the science of gratitude and how it there's been some studies and research done. Less sickness, less, you know, less anxiety, less depression and all these things, and then more happiness in health and things like this.

00:12:16:06 - 00:12:33:07
David George Brooke
And so I would think the same thing is true with writing that. I'm going to research add a little bit about. There's something about the act of writing with this thing called a pen. And yes, we've come to, you know, not only, you know, all the electronic devices and things they do, you can talk on your phone, it'll type it, it'll write it down and so forth.

00:12:33:11 - 00:12:54:21
David George Brooke
But if I write, I am so grateful to Mike O'Neil and so forth. It does. It sticks in your brain better. And somebody said something recently that I really liked. White's so important to journal. They said the faintest pencil is better than the best memory. So can you remember what you had for dinner three weeks ago on Friday?

00:12:54:22 - 00:13:13:05
David George Brooke
No. But if you looked in your journal, it'd be right there if that was one of the things you put down. So I just it's so important. And plus the other added benefit to it and this is, this is my journaling that we'll get into a little later. But every single day it's filled in. And sometimes I'll think about a day that I had that wasn't particularly good.

00:13:13:07 - 00:13:28:23
David George Brooke
I'll think, oh, I wonder that didn't that didn't feel very good back on January 5th or whatever. And I'll go back and look and see what I wrote. And it's very helpful. And I really sometimes I'd go back on a day where I was having a rough day and I get back to basics, and in fact, this this is a perfect opportunity to give.

00:13:28:23 - 00:13:51:02
David George Brooke
Somebody texted me this yesterday. They sent me a portion of their entry. I'm gratitude for I'm grateful for my health because so many don't have theirs. My automobile being safe and sound, having a roof over my head, having electricity, running water, the birds outside, knowing my family is safe and grateful for more than I thought. So it's just sometimes you got to get back to basics.

00:13:51:02 - 00:14:08:14
David George Brooke
But but having that that just there's again there's something that neuroplasticity or whatever it might be, it connects better in the brain to actually write it down. That's why I encourage you so much. And it's funny because I go to these talks. I got to make sure, but he's got some sort of padded paper like this, and I have this hand out in the pan, and most of the time people have it.

00:14:08:14 - 00:14:19:21
David George Brooke
But I said, this is going to be very interactive. There's gonna be a lot of things you're going to do, but the more you participate, the more you will benefit. And so that writing down is a good example.

00:14:19:23 - 00:14:39:24
Mike O'Neill
David, you've been doing this for a while, but look back to your days when you were in corporate management. Let's go all the way back to when you were store manager for Nordstrom. Envision a typical day. Could you ever envision that you would be on something called a podcast?

00:14:40:01 - 00:14:41:03
David George Brooke
Yeah, exactly.

00:14:41:03 - 00:14:51:13
Mike O'Neill
Talking about this topic and what ways have you or have you not changed since those days when it comes to the attitude towards gratitude?

00:14:51:15 - 00:15:14:09
David George Brooke
Yeah, that's a great question. I look back on those and I have to say there was it was sort of 5050. I really enjoyed a lot of things to me, running a big store with 5 or 600 employees was like being the mayor of a small town. And got I go through all the store I Mr. Brooke and I go please call me David and you, you'd go, I'd start my day by going around to all the 35 selling departments and checking in.

00:15:14:09 - 00:15:33:12
David George Brooke
How was their day yesterday. Ladies shoes, men's shoes, men's wear, women's dresses, you know, you name it, all the different departments. And it just was fun because the time I was going by really fast. So you connect with all these people. But to your point, I would have had no idea if I had a crystal ball. I think that's why some of us almost would rather we didn't.

00:15:33:14 - 00:15:58:06
David George Brooke
To look ahead, because I just want to go, oh, you're kidding me. I thought I was going to be in retail forever and be in be some senior vice president in charge of merchandizing or some big title like that. But the biggest thing that that would change for me is I impacted a lot of people there because you had these employees, you had about 35 selling managers and about 50 non selling managers, so about 50 managers in the store.

00:15:58:08 - 00:16:25:19
David George Brooke
You have a meeting every Monday morning and they'll be gathered around this big conference room and so forth. And here's how we did for our sales last week. And then we did this on our markdowns. And these are the upcoming events we have and so forth. And so that was fun. It was it was really fun. But the impact that you have that I know you do, Mike and I get to have is very much more personal, if that's the way I would look at it because of people that with all due respect to Nordstrom and the job and I really enjoyed it.

00:16:25:19 - 00:16:46:23
David George Brooke
As I said, people didn't tell me I changed their life. I mean, they didn't say that. They said I think I was a good manager, primarily because I employed the Golden rule. There wasn't a person in that store I didn't treat with the utmost respect, and I don't care if there was the top salesman, the top manager all the way down to the maintenance person emptying the trash, you know, they're always important.

00:16:46:23 - 00:17:02:11
David George Brooke
And I never started a sentence without the words. Will you do me a favor, Mike? Will you do me a favor when you get a second? Can we get these boxes down to the recycle thing? Thank you so much. I appreciate that, and so I had a lot of people come from other stores to come and want to work in my store because they knew I was a good manager.

00:17:02:13 - 00:17:20:24
David George Brooke
But even with that said, what I do now is so personal because if the risk of sounding overly dramatic, sometimes it's kind of a matter of life and death. I mean, people that are, you know, the people that have anxiety and get depression and then suicidal ideation and things like that. I mean, that that's down a tough path.

00:17:20:24 - 00:17:38:11
David George Brooke
And so when somebody says, I'm going to start writing in this gratitude journal every day, and I really appreciate it. And one of the big things somebody taught me once is when you're signing books and, you know, to Michael Neil and gratefully and be grateful every day, David Brook and, you know, I would try to sign and talk to people at the same time and it just doesn't work.

00:17:38:16 - 00:17:53:23
David George Brooke
You have, you know, because you're kind of thinking about what you're writing in other ways. You can. So I would say before I start signing, what's your name? Mike O'Neill. Okay. Mike, what was your biggest takeaway? And so then they're saying what it is now you can listen and you can write at the same time. That works, but you can't write and talk at the same time.

00:17:54:00 - 00:18:10:20
David George Brooke
So I got really used to hearing what that takeaway was. And it was invariably two things which were really interesting about how I do talking, because I don't do PowerPoint, I'm just not a fan of PowerPoint. There was a couple of yesterday that were good, but then they had problems with the slide and then you couldn't see it.

00:18:10:20 - 00:18:35:06
David George Brooke
And it's just me and the momentum. And it was interesting because my almost two hours, I cut out some material, I couldn't get it all in and it went by. It felt like 15 minutes and it was an hour 50, I think was actually what it was. But what's interesting is the comments, when I'd say, what was your biggest takeaway, were invariably one of the stories I told in my life that illustrate a point, or one of the activities that they did on the paper.

00:18:35:08 - 00:18:48:15
David George Brooke
I really like the red paper thing, were we tore it up at the end, and so that that was my favorite of all the ones you did. And I like the one where you had where we had to write our power, sort of our daily number, and then write the three things and what our number was after that, and they'd go into it.

00:18:48:15 - 00:19:09:17
David George Brooke
So it told me, just as I think as far as it tipped to speakers of would be speakers, how important it is to use your stories and how important it is to use activities or exercises. So it's back to the question. Nordson was great, but I just never imagined I'd have this kind of impact with people. I just I just never could imagine.

00:19:09:19 - 00:19:36:03
Mike O'Neill
I'm happy for you, and I'm happy for those who have had an opportunity to experience you in that setting. Thank you. You know, we started this conversation about how gratitude can change your life, mindful that our listeners are leaders. They're responsible for those who report to them. In what ways would you encourage leaders to embrace gratitude as a leadership quality?

00:19:36:05 - 00:19:55:09
David George Brooke
I think gratitude as a leadership quality is part of kind of a formula. But I think also possibly something that's even ahead of that, and I guess it could be included with the gratitude Journal as an example. But I've said raising two children, my sons were four and 14 when my wife died and she was 38 years old.

00:19:55:09 - 00:20:14:03
David George Brooke
A very tragic event, and it was really tough to bounce back from that. And I raised them on my own. But I've often said as a leader, managing people and raising children both require the number one skill set is you better darn well set a good example. And so my son's, as I've said many times, I never had to go.

00:20:14:03 - 00:20:27:22
David George Brooke
I'm smoking, but I don't want to see you smoking. It just doesn't work. You have to set the example. And so now I, I can knock on wood, but at 30 and 40, as I said, my rock star sons, it worked out pretty well considering they lost their mother at such a young age. But in the leadership thing.

00:20:27:22 - 00:20:43:19
David George Brooke
So I think it starts with the example that they set. And then gratitude can be a piece of that too. So if they're grateful and then the managers see them as the leader, below that leader, they see them saying, well, that's okay. We're going to we're getting that. You didn't have a good day today. We'll have another good day tomorrow.

00:20:43:20 - 00:21:00:16
David George Brooke
We had an ad coming out and pointing out the good things, and I think that kind of thing. And it also surprised me the golden rule most people know about, you know, treat others as you would be treated. But I was always shot. Not often, but enough of the time that people wouldn't understand the concept of the Golden Rule.

00:21:00:18 - 00:21:15:21
David George Brooke
And I'd have go into some department and they're madly putting away stock, and there's boxes and everything and, you know, flying around and trying to get ready for the store to open and so forth. They go, where's your manager? He's up in the coffee shop. What? And so I go up to the coffee shop. What are you doing up here?

00:21:16:02 - 00:21:30:20
David George Brooke
I said, they're trying to put all the stock away. We need to get ready for the day. He goes, well, I figured they can do it. I'm up here having coffee. And I said, well, do you think that's a very good example? He said, well, I'm the manager and I just, I spoke like, oh, oh, okay. I guess that makes it okay.

00:21:30:20 - 00:21:51:05
David George Brooke
That's just like the you better not smoke but I'm smoking, you know. So as a leader you want to set the great example. Yes. Use gratitude and more than anything else be the example being and what is it going to be, the change you want to see or something like that. But be the example and people will follow you because people do what you do, they don't necessarily do what you say.

00:21:51:07 - 00:21:54:03
David George Brooke
So I think those are really good keys to making a good leader.

00:21:54:07 - 00:22:17:03
Mike O'Neill
If you were to summarize, and this is an unfair question, but I want to ask it nonetheless. If we were to kind of peel back the layer of gratitude to the essence, the messages that you try to get across in your videos, in your books, in your speaking, what are those key things that you really want to make sure that are listeners get?

00:22:17:05 - 00:22:45:01
David George Brooke
Absolutely. I mentioned earlier, one of my sayings is gratitude turns what you have into enough. It kind of gives you. It's like, if you don't do that, if you're always trying to chase the bigger car, the better both, the better. House. You're like a cat chasing its tail. And I just think it's so important to understand the example you said, as we just said, and to really use a gratitude journal as an example, because that's that if you think about it, it's like a dream if you talk about it, inspire you, if you write, inspires you, if you write about it, it empowers you.

00:22:45:03 - 00:23:03:00
David George Brooke
But I think there's something about this example that you can do where you have this journal and you can follow through and people will say, sometimes one of my last comments, we would you have any final thoughts? And one of the things I'll say is, you know what, give it a try. At least try it. Will you do me that favor?

00:23:03:05 - 00:23:16:22
David George Brooke
Well, how about this? How about something as basic as just everyday? Just write down one thing you're grateful. Let's start with that. And then maybe doing the next day or two, you can do a sentence and then maybe a couple of sentences. Well, I just don't have the time to write or you don't have the time to be grateful.

00:23:16:24 - 00:23:33:09
David George Brooke
You know, time to think about all your blessings in abundance. Oh, okay. But then eventually, because this I keep referencing the journal I've time to do a million times. It's 5 to 6 minutes. That's it. And the other day I had a to show you how powerful it is to. I had a, and it was having a tough day.

00:23:33:11 - 00:23:52:24
David George Brooke
It was about a week and a half ago. And I keep it right over here to my right, right on a file. And I reread it at three in the afternoon, and it made me feel better because I had about 7 or 730 in the morning as part of my power hour. And somebody once told me it's better to do less than you then you wanted to, then nothing at all.

00:23:53:01 - 00:24:10:13
David George Brooke
Or less than you'd hoped for. So again, one word, one sentence, two sentences something. Try it. Because one of my pet peeves sounds a bit negative, but I just I have such a hard time and a lot of my friends that I there were this way people I knew are now my acquaintances, people that complain and do nothing about it.

00:24:10:15 - 00:24:25:13
David George Brooke
So if they are saying they're having a tough I used to say about these fraternity brothers would call me because I'm a pretty high energy guy and they say, I need a dose of the Booker nominees to copy the booker in college. And so now I ask them, you know, they call me you. I need a dose. Do you have a second?

00:24:25:13 - 00:24:40:03
David George Brooke
I said, let me ask you something. Maybe written in your gratitude journal. They say no. So I just take the phone. I just hang up on it. I just hit the hang button and so they go home. So like 10s later, they call back and he goes, I think we got cut off. No we didn't. No we didn't.

00:24:40:03 - 00:24:53:03
David George Brooke
I hung up on you write in your journal and then call me if you need to help yell. I'll be the training wheels. So I'm not going to pedal your bike for gosh sakes. You know, you got to take some responsibility here.

00:24:53:05 - 00:25:20:08
Mike O'Neill
Yeah. David, one reason I'm drawn to you, and I'm sure others are, is this topic could be viewed by some as a little kind of woowoo. Oh, absolutely. And there's a kind of a directness about you. You just don't fluff it up. And I find that, refreshing. Do me a favor. Think about a time where perhaps you or someone you know got stuck.

00:25:20:10 - 00:25:25:10
Mike O'Neill
And when that happened, what did it take to get unstuck? Well.

00:25:25:12 - 00:25:40:10
David George Brooke
Another great question. And I would go back to just yesterday, this one girl, her name was Kelly, and she was one of the ones that was in tears and said what had happened. And she sort of told me, some of the things. And it was pretty, pretty sad what she'd gone through. And so I said, well, what?

00:25:40:11 - 00:25:56:01
David George Brooke
Tell me a little bit about the exercise. And she says, I just don't know what to do. And so she got a gratitude journal. And then we but we talked about it. And one of the things that I have, a module I did yesterday about listening that people can always do a better job on is being a better listener.

00:25:56:03 - 00:26:13:04
David George Brooke
And I let her talk for 5 or 6 minutes and didn't say a word. I just nodded, never interrupted, never said, oh, I I've been through that before myself. Never made it about me. It's something I did in the module, and, I could just tell. She started to go from tears to kind of a smile on her face.

00:26:13:10 - 00:26:37:13
David George Brooke
And so I would call that from unstuck to back on track and she got the gratitude journal and then gave me another hug. As she left, she says, I'm going to write in this every single day. So there are vehicles out there. And one quick thing my on the I call it the science of gratitude. I'm not going to take the time to read it all, but it's about a 62nd read on all the research and studies that have been done on how gratitude affects you physically, mentally.

00:26:37:15 - 00:27:06:04
David George Brooke
And it's just there's lots of research done on it. So it's not woowoo because some people think it is. But I think that thing about getting unstuck is we're going to get stuck all the times, all the time in life. And so what are some techniques we can do to get out of that? And that's list having to talk to somebody and they listen to you and then having them point out some of the things you can be grateful for, like food in the refrigerator, like having a car that runs a bed to sleep in, a warm bed, a hot shower, a roof over your head, etc. and some people you can just see they

00:27:06:04 - 00:27:19:23
David George Brooke
just kind of light up because I didn't think about that. And we get back to your word. We get stuck in our own downward spiral. And it's it's sometimes it's hard to get out of it. So if you can point those things out to people, it can really help.

00:27:20:00 - 00:27:31:06
Mike O'Neill
Debbie, we've had a far ranging conversation, but if you were to leave our listeners with one tip, something that they can act on, what would that tip be?

00:27:31:08 - 00:27:50:08
David George Brooke
Probably using going to surprise you get a gratitude journal. I mean, I've got the same things like gratitude turns out jamming to enough. I've said this a few times and so forth, but I just urge people to try one and see what happens, because to me, it's ultimately I was watching the video the other day and the guy was talking about it, and I kind of agreed.

00:27:50:08 - 00:28:10:22
David George Brooke
And how much we we need to understand, not in a negative way that most people can is can their concern is themselves miss kind of self-preservation and they don't really give a darn about you and me. I mean, we think they do and sometimes they do, but a lot of times they don't. But it's your responsibility to create what is the best life you have is this gift you've been given called life.

00:28:10:24 - 00:28:29:17
David George Brooke
And so to me, if you if you have something like a gratitude journal that this is tool and this probably isn't going to surprise you, these, these last about 3 or 4 months. That's how many entries are in there behind me on my bookshelf and the bottom. I would bet you there's I should go count on recently, probably 80 or 90 journals.

00:28:29:20 - 00:28:50:15
David George Brooke
Did that describe me doing it for 10 or 15 years, whatever it's been. And it's kind of the story in my life too. As I said, there's bonuses. You can go back and see what you wrote on this day. And and I always write. On a second. I mean, just give me a little example of this. Opening this to the right page here, then it's not letting me open it.

00:28:50:17 - 00:28:53:20
David George Brooke
What does it say? At the very top of that page it.

00:28:53:20 - 00:28:58:21
Mike O'Neill
Says might be number one guess. Yes. Sure does is oh no, that's the highlight.

00:28:58:21 - 00:29:16:15
David George Brooke
Of my day. So it's just interesting how that it can do more of it. But it's able to redirect your thinking from negative to positive. And that's probably the most helpful thing of all. So I highly encourage people to, get a gratitude journal. And by the way, if you want to buy one, you can get one at my website.

00:29:16:15 - 00:29:27:20
David George Brooke
Not surprisingly, it's called that Gratitude guide.com. That's simple. And there is just a button right in the center says buy a gratitude journal because that's what people buy. I've done other books, but they buy more of those than anything else.

00:29:27:20 - 00:29:36:12
David George Brooke
the reason why I suggest the gratitude and using this sort of mindset, if you will, is there's the old thing if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

00:29:36:12 - 00:29:51:20
David George Brooke
So if it's working, great, but if it's not working, it might be time to try an alternative. And so I try. That's why I set such a good example. I try to, but I kind of do set such a good example on how to do it. If I was only writing in this, for instance, occasionally it wouldn't mean much.

00:29:51:20 - 00:30:04:19
David George Brooke
I could go back and just flip through the pages. There's not. I don't miss a day and it's just the way it is, but it works well for me. And then I can sit in front of an audience and there's authentic people and there's inauthentic people. I can stand in front of an audience and tell them it's and where.

00:30:04:20 - 00:30:35:03
David George Brooke
It's really helpful to write in this as an example every day, but I do as well. And we're not talking now to both sides of my mouth. So I think as a leader, if your plan is working, if the people respect you and you communicate with them well and you're getting the results you want, great. But if it's not as good, and even if it is good, but try adding the gratitude piece because it's just, again, this mindset, which is, I mean, the thing that I don't bring this up a lot, but if you think about life, a lot of life's kind of a big statement, basically is negative.

00:30:35:05 - 00:30:50:09
David George Brooke
I mean, we're born and then we die. I've lost 2 or 3 friends in the last 2 or 3 months that I younger than I am and so forth. And that's what happens. And we've all this war and in the world, in the Mideast and in Ukraine and all this kind of things, you could be in a bad mood all the time if you wanted to.

00:30:50:11 - 00:31:16:07
David George Brooke
But I think we're given this gift called life. And I think the idea is to make the most of it. And and so to me, when the two people go into a hospital with the same disease, the positive attitude lives, the negative attitude dies. So it's something that can affect your health, as I mentioned earlier. But it's just it's a lot more fun to have those kind of conversations where you're talking about all the good things that are in your life as opposed to the bad things.

00:31:16:07 - 00:31:26:00
David George Brooke
So it's just, I just think it's a tremendous mindset to have. And you can help, whether it's leaders or everyday people. It's just so important to use that because it can really help you have a better life.

00:31:26:12 - 00:31:50:06
Mike O'Neill
Excellent. David, before we conclude, I've got a question for the leaders in the audience, and that is, why do people choose to follow your lead? Is it out of obligation, or do they truly believe in your vision? And how might incorporating gratitude into your leadership style change this dynamic

00:31:50:06 - 00:32:06:20
Mike O'Neill
is it true for you that leadership thrives on clarity, competence and appreciation? Because it's really not just about holding authority. It's about creating practical solutions that drive real bottom line results while valuing your team.

00:32:06:22 - 00:32:31:08
Mike O'Neill
Listeners know I'm an executive coach. I help leaders achieve that bottom line impact. And how do I do that? It's by listening. I hope that what you've heard today is an indication of if we all would just listen more, if we all just go about what we're trying to do with a an attitude of gratitude and be mindful that this doesn't just happen.

00:32:31:08 - 00:32:41:13
Mike O'Neill
It has to be a developed practice. Yeah. David, George, your insights, they have been very, very, very valuable. Thank you for joining us.

00:32:41:15 - 00:32:48:16
David George Brooke
Thank you. Thank you Mike. It was great. I really appreciate your time and and your audience and all. Thank you so much for inviting me.

00:32:48:18 - 00:32:54:09
Mike O'Neill
You know, if folks want to engage with you further, what's the best way for them to reach out to you.

00:32:54:11 - 00:33:15:12
David George Brooke
The best way? Two things. The website is that gratitude guy icon. And then my emails David at that gratitude Guy icon. And you can get you can also a lot of people like to subscribe to my channel on YouTube. I have 20,000 subscribers and it's David, George, Brooke. Just those three words and you can go there and subscribe to it.

00:33:15:12 - 00:33:30:03
David George Brooke
That's another way, because that you get a video every single day. And of course, not surprisingly, it's about gratitude. So so it's there's that away as well. But but the website is where you can get the journal to on there right in the center, there's a button that takes you right to the journal.

00:33:30:05 - 00:33:43:12
Mike O'Neill
Thank you. David, I want to also offer a big thank you to our subscribers for tuning in, and I hope that today's discussion has provided you with some insights. They'll help you get unstuck in On Target.

00:33:45:03 - 00:33:49:03
Mike O'Neill
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Get Unstuck and on Target.

00:33:49:05 - 00:34:09:18
Mike O'Neill
I hope you gain insights to help you lead with competence and drive your organization forward. Remember it, Bench builders. We're committed to your success, your leadership excellence, and your strategic growth. If you've enjoyed our conversation today, please leave a review rate and subscribe to keep up with our latest episode.

00:34:10:02 - 00:34:14:02
Mike O'Neill
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00:34:14:01 - 00:34:17:14
Mike O'Neill
Who do you know? Who needs to hear what we talked about today?

00:34:17:23 - 00:34:25:03
Mike O'Neill
Until next time, I encourage you to stay. Focus on the target and continue to break new ground on your leadership path.