Most problem-solving starts with “what’s wrong and how do I fix it?” Gratitude flips this to “what’s right and how do I grow it?” Joe tells the story of a aid worker sent to Vietnam with $50,000 to fix childhood malnutrition in an entire county. Instead of fighting for more resources or trying to fix what was broken, he found the one village where kids weren’t malnourished, noticed what they were doing differently (three meals instead of two, adding insects and greens to rice), and showed other mothers the results. The whole county changed.
This approach also helps you see opportunities inside difficulties. If you can genuinely feel grateful during a crisis — not denying the pain but being grateful alongside it — you spot possibilities that others miss. “Oh, it’s COVID — I get to be home with my family and focus on myself.”
Gratitude also dissolves poverty mentality. If you feel lack around money, time, or intelligence, a 10-minute daily gratitude practice on what you do have changes your self-definition. “We behave mostly by who we think we are.” A company can do this collectively — “here’s what we’re shy of; let’s be grateful for what we do have” — turning lack of resources into resourcefulness.
Related Concepts
- Gratitude reveals solutions criticism hides
- Find what already works and amplify it
- Resourcefulness over resources
- Find what’s already working and spread it rather than fixing what’s broken
- Ungratitude removes half your solutions