A Gift of Gratitude to our Future Selves

Coaching Builds Thinking Ahead

As we near the Thanksgiving holiday, encouragements to be grateful abound. Sometimes, though, it can be tough to find inspiration for gratitude. Many students, fatigued at this point in the semester and feeling anxious about issues ranging from academic performance to crises on the world stage, may feel they have little bandwidth for gratitude right now. 

LifeBound Master Trainer and Rutgers academic coach Sarah Kravits was delivering a workshop last week on procrastination and planning ahead when she thought of a way to bring gratitude into the conversation. "I was talking about procrastination as an emotion regulation issue, and how things we leave undone can create increasingly negative emotions the longer we wait to do them. One of the procrastination-fighting concepts, 'taking care of your future self,' resonated with many of the students. This gave me an idea and I asked: Why not consider doing a task this weekend for which your future self, who may want to relax over Thanksgiving, will feel grateful? The students then each came up with one thing they'd like to get done soon and not have hanging over their head during the holiday weekend."

Coaches, for those whom you coach or for yourselves, see if the hope of future gratitude inspires current action. When something weighs heavy on a coachee, ask them:

• On which date would your future self feel grateful that you got this done?
• How might you break this up into smaller steps you can start soon?
• What step can you take today that can give you the hope of future gratitude for your hard work and completion?

We are grateful for all of you and for the work you to do improve the world, every day. Wishing you a peaceful Thanksgiving. 

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