This time of year, we are reminded of all we have to be thankful for. Not only is it good for the soul, but new research shows it is good for your physical and mental health!
Be thankful for the benefits
Robert Emmons, a Psychology professor at the University of California Davis, did a study to determine if there are benefits to being grateful.
He divided the study’s participants into three groups:
It’s Back-to-School time and we’re in the middle of a ten-part series on lifelong learning. We started by talking about the 3 R’s from our school days – reading, writing and arithmetic. Now we’re talking about the 3 R’s of BIGG success.
So far we’ve discussed two of them – responsibility and resiliency. Today we’ll chat about the 3rd R of BIGG success – relationships.
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We are living in the age of interdependence. It’s amazing how much can be accomplished by working together.
Relationships have always been important, and now it’s possible for any of us to build a worldwide network of relationships for work and play!
My best friend, Jodi, is a smart cookie. She teaches high school students and is the mother of two boys. With all that going, she went back to school to get her Master’s in Education. We recently attended her graduation party.
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I admire her for being able to juggle so many things at once! I’ll bet she needs to catch up on some sleep!
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I'm so proud of her. She definitely sacrificed to achieve a new level of success in her career with all she had on her plate. That's why I call her "Wonder Woman"!
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I noticed her flying around in the sky … now I get it. She was in her invisible plane, huh?
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Jodi's mom, Linda, wanted to do something special for Jodi. So Linda planned a family party with a few surprises. I was one of those! But Linda didn’t have my phone number and she didn’t want to raise Jodi’s suspicions.
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So Linda enlisted the help of Jodi's oldest son, Collin. He's only eight-years old, but was smart enough to look up the phone numbers on Jodi's cell phone when she was taking a shower!
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Ah, kids these days! Would you be able to figure that out, George?
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I’d like to think that I could! So last weekend, when we walked in, Jodi was talking with a family member. She looked over and saw us but didn’t really respond. She looked away and then looked back again! She was so surprised – shocked, even – to see you, Mary-Lynn.
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Well, we shed some tears because it had been awhile since we had seen each other. Then we spent the day with her – getting to know her family and friends.
We relay this story because there’s something really cool about celebrating the success of others. It can inspire you to bigger success in your own life. This works in four ways:
By celebrating, we acknowledge When we celebrate the accomplishments of others, we remember to acknowledge our own achievements. It’s easy to forget to do this but it’s necessary to keep achieving every loftier goals.
Celebration sparks innovation As the saying goes, “Success breeds success.” We are often inspired and encouraged to go for what we want when we see other people getting what they want.
Appreciate to be appreciated When you appreciate the hard work and efforts of others, you're more likely to appreciate the hard work and efforts you put into your success.
Commemorate to remember We remember achievements that are marked with special occasions. From mini-celebrations to full-blown parties, it is important to celebrate the accomplishments we make along our journey to bigg success!
So let's celebrate an accomplishment of yours! Will you share something that you’ve accomplished recently? Leave a comment below, call us at 877.988.BIGG(2444) or e-mail us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.
Thanks so much for reading our post today. Please join us next time when we’ll talk about behaviors that cost money. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!
Captain Chesley Sullenberger (Sully as we’ve come to know him) inspired this series. He is, of course, the pilot who landed his plane in the Hudson River to ultimately save over 150 lives.
But we haven’t heard much about the co-pilot on that fateful flight – Jeffrey Skiles. He, much like Sully, was a veteran of the industry as well. And let’s not forget the flight crew and also the passengers who stepped up to the challenge. The news coverage has largely ignored them too.
Heroes aren’t alone
We love our heroes. They are usually a single person. But a person usually doesn’t become a hero by themselves.
Which got us thinking about the Wind Beneath My Wings. Doesn’t that song seem particularly appropriate when thinking about heroes and airplanes? Pun fully intended!
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On the show, I had to try hard not to cry as we talked about the lyrics of this song.
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I tried not to admit that I’m a huge Bette Midler fan! But so was Johnny Carson … so I guess I’m in good company.
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Unsung heroes
The song starts …
“It must have been cold there in my shadow, to never have sunlight on your face. You were content to let me shine, that's your way. You always walked a step behind.”
This is the case with many heroes. There are the heroes we see. And for every hero that we see, there are many unsung heroes, working behind the scenes, that we never see.
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When I was in radio, I did a segment called “Superstar Employee of the Month,” where people could nominate their co-workers. The nominations were always so heartfelt and touching. People often recognized those co-workers who seldom got any credit.
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Plenty of work, very little credit
The song continues …
“So I was the one with all the glory, while you were the one with all the strain.”
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This reminds me of something I heard my dad say a number of times about the employees of his business. “They do all the work and I get all the credit.” This is so true for many leaders. At least he recognized it!
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We all have people behind us that help us succeed. And they often don’t get the credit they deserve. Just like the co-pilot and crew of US Airways Flight 1549.
Lifting us up
These unsung heroes, who do so much work for so little credit do much more than just support us.
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My favorite line of this song is in the chorus, “I can fly higher than an eagle, for you are the wind beneath my wings.” It shows how important some people are to us. They lift us up to heights we can’t achieve on our own, to levels we can hardly imagine.
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A hero’s response
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When my dad passed away unexpectedly, I kept a journal for awhile. The chorus to this song was the feature of the very first entry. There wasn’t much left unsaid between the two of us. We had a great relationship, but I’m not sure that I ever told him that he was a hero to me. I think he knew, but I sure wish I had said it explicitly.
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The song closes with the appropriate response of a hero …
“Thank you, thank you, thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings”.
Whether we feel like a hero or not, it’s important to understand that any success we achieve isn’t reached alone. There are people lifting us up every step of the way.
Don’t just think about how much you appreciate them. Tell them. To go back to the song one more time, it says it explicitly …
“It might have appeared to go unnoticed, but I've got it all here in my heart. I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it. I would be nothing without you.”
Do you have any idea how much we appreciate that you are part of our community? Well, let us just say, it means more to us than words can say. But we’ll try anyway:
You lift us up! Thank you, thank you …
Join us next time as we wrap up this series by discussing the hero within the hero. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!
The other night we saw an episode of According to Jim. Jim (played by Jim Belushi) was stressing because he had not had a good year – money was tight and it was Christmas time. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to buy his kids the gifts they wanted.
His wife, Cheryl (Courtney Thorne-Smith) pointed out to him that the kids had barely looked at the presents they got the year before. In fact, one was still in its original package – it had been unwrapped but never opened and played with!
Maybe that kid was just a collector at heart!
But this show made us think … sometimes we get caught up on getting something new and not reflecting on the gifts we already have. So today we want to unwrap some of our most special gifts.
If you want to listen to us open these gifts, just click the “play” button above. Otherwise, picture each package being opened …
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Why don’t you kick it off, Mary-Lynn?
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This one is a real, real special one. It’s the gift of my Dad. He had a bit of a health scare going into the holidays. He’s fine – clean bill of health. So thank you, God. I love my gift this year! Alright George, it’s your turn.
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My gift is memories of Mom and Dad. Mom’s been gone a couple of years now so it’s still somewhat fresh, I guess. I think about the things I learned from them, the things that helped make me who I am, for better or worse – I can blame them! I had a very special Mom and Dad and I’m very thankful for that. Now, you’re up Mary-Lynn.
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Oh, yes … we’ve had a cold winter here in Illinois. There have been nights when you just hear that wind outside howling and I am inside and toasty warm! So the gift of a nice warm house is something I’m very, very grateful for this year.
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We often don’t stop to think about the basics and how many people there are who don’t even have something as simple as that.
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Exactly. Alright, George, tear into the next one.
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One of the features of our car is remote unlock. Man, as we’ve been out shopping in the cold, it’s really nice to be able to find your car quickly because it winks at us. And of course, to be able to get right in once you’re to it.
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That’s a good one. Okay, I’ll open the next one. Ah, the gifts of our kitty cats – Fifi and Fraidy. We have original cat names, don’t we? Boy, they just give us gifts all year long … loving and purring.
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Yeah, and sometimes they leave us a little something on the floor!
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We don’t like those gifts at all!
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Okay, let’s open the next one. It’s for both of us, Mary-Lynn. Let’s see what it is … ah, it’s our families. You have a great family, Mary-Lynn. Love your dad and your sister.
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You have a great family, too. Your sisters are all so fun – listening to all of the siblings laughing together. It’s just so nice!
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Yes, and the in-laws aren’t so bad either. A cool group of nephews and now, one little niece. And Mary-Lynn, while we’re on family, I have to say that I’m also very thankful for you.
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Ah, that’s so sweet. I’m thankful for you too. You’re a special man!
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It brings up the point, though. I think sometimes those closest to us are the people we most take for granted. We often don’t show them the appreciation we should.
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Yeah, I forget about you all the time, George.
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I know you do!
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George, I’ve got to tell you … I think we scored this Christmas.
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I’m with you on that – but Mary-Lynn, I just noticed something … over there in the corner, it looks like there’s another bigg present for us.
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Alright, let’s open it up … ah yes, of course. This is something we’re really grateful for.
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We’re grateful for you! The fact that you spend time with us like you do – you share your insights, you listen to our show, you read our blog posts. However you spend time with us, we’re just so thankful.
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You are the reason that we get to do what we love to do! That is such an amazing gift and we thank you so much.
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So to you we say, whatever your chosen holiday at this time of year, we wish you and yours the very best. For us, it’s Christmas … so Merry Christmas!
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To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
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The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
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Today we want to look at how pausing to celebrate another person’s accomplishment can help you achieve bigger success in your life. 
My best friend, Jodi, is a smart cookie. She teaches high school students and is the mother of two boys. With all that going, she went back to school to get her Master’s in Education. We recently attended her graduation party. 
I admire her for being able to juggle so many things at once! I’ll bet she needs to catch up on some sleep! 
Today we continue our series on heroes. Last time we talked about 
The other night we saw an episode of According to Jim. Jim (played by Jim Belushi) was stressing because he had not had a good year – money was tight and it was Christmas time. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to buy his kids the gifts they wanted.