I have to admit something: every time we get an email from a teacher or a photo of students smiling while using The First Five, it fills my bucket. Those messages mean more than you could ever imagine. Running a company is a privilege, but it’s also stressful, chaotic, and often overwhelming. There are constant decisions, unexpected roadblocks, and about a hundred things I want to fix or improve every day.
A little peek behind the curtain: I’m a perfectionist. I like things done a certain way. I notice details that probably no one else ever will, and I have an obsession with getting everything just right. (Yes, this can make my team want to pull their hair out some days.) But when I start slipping into that mindset of frustration or stress, I always try to return to gratitude. Not in a fluffy, feel-good kind of way, but in an intentional, grounding way.
A few years ago, I heard Tony Robbins talk about his morning gratitude practice, and it completely changed how I think about it. Instead of just listing things he’s thankful for, he relives three moments of gratitude from his life. He closes his eyes, recalls every detail, and lets himself feel what it was like to be in that exact moment again. The idea is that by re-experiencing those memories, your brain literally rewires itself to focus on the positive. It’s not about pretending everything is perfect; it’s about reminding yourself that joy still exists.
You don’t have to be a guru or run a company to practice this. Maybe for you it’s remembering a student’s breakthrough, a funny class moment, or a quiet thank-you from a colleague. Those are the moments that keep us grounded and remind us why we do what we do. I’m writing this as much for myself as for anyone reading. Gratitude doesn’t make the hard stuff disappear, but it softens it. And the more we practice it, the more room we create for patience, compassion, and kindness which are the very things our students need most from us.
-Doug Overton