Gratitude Forward – Thankful for What’s Coming

Most of us practice gratitude by looking back, reflecting on the year, mining our memories for moments worth celebrating. But what if gratitude could be a leadership tool that shapes your future instead of just honoring your past?

Gayle Lantz introduces a powerful concept she calls “gratitude forward,” the practice of being thankful for what’s coming, even when you can’t name it yet.

As Gayle explains, “It’s not this naive positivity. The future will not be all sunshine and rainbows and confetti. Hard things are coming. We know that. They always do.” But leaders who start from gratitude have more resilience when those challenges hit.

This Thanksgiving episode challenges the traditional backward-looking approach to gratitude. Instead, Gayle invites leaders to activate an emotional state that helps them move toward the future with more peace, hope, and courage.

She shares a simple 10-minute exercise that listeners can practice during the holiday season, writing your future gratitude list without editing, allowing yourself to feel grateful for people you haven’t met yet, paths you haven’t discovered, and the strength you’ll surprise yourself with.

This episode covers:

• Why we typically wait for proof before feeling grateful
• How anticipatory gratitude primes your nervous system toward possibility
• The difference between gratitude forward and fantasy thinking
• A practical 10-minute exercise to practice gratitude in advance
• Gayle’s personal example of what came up in her own future gratitude practice
• Why gratitude is a future-forming force, not just retrospective reflection