When I was trying to build my real estate business, my coach, Judy Camp had a raft of ideas. One of the best was The Power Lunch.
The Power Lunch is an activity we all hear about but something I had seldom practiced. Lunch was for sustenance, or sometimes for a date with my sweetie. That was if I took lunch at all.
Building a business is hard and crazy work.
But hey, if Judy suggested it, I was going to try it. I’d call someone I’d met who might become a client, or a potential backer/mentor and I’d take them out to lunch. And it worked!
Putting aside an hour to treat someone who was perhaps going to help me succeed was always fun and I quickly learned how grateful I was for Judy’s advice.
My Power Lunches have now turned into “gratitude lunches.”
At least twice a month. I try to schedule a lunch date with someone for whom I’m grateful. My real estate friends, Amy and Linda. The former Cancer Foundation board member who helped welcome me when I first signed up. Lots of former clients who will probably someday want to send me clients.
I love to visit, so this isn’t difficult at all for me. In fact, it’s something I look forward to. Every time it reminds me how rich and varied my life is, how full of gifts.
Lunch is not just five minutes of gratitude nerdiness (it’s more like at least an hour), but I suggest you take five minutes right now to make a list of ten people you could take to lunch in the next few weeks or months. That five minutes of thinking about the people you could thank in person will change your day.
Then schedule the lunch!
It doesn’t have to be expensive, it’s the thought that counts. It’s you taking the time to let someone know they’ve made your life better. That’s what makes all the difference, and not just for you. When folks know you’re grateful, it in turn inspires them to more gratitude and to thank the people in their lives.
You’ll start a crazy cascade of Gratitude Nerdiness!
I frequently say that gratitude is free, but we also know there’s no such thing as free lunch. This one will be worth it.
I also say that gratitude is good for business. I can personally guarantee that this sort of gratitude is REALLY good for business. Let me know how your lunches go, whether they’re a picnic with a Chicago Dog or a white tablecloth sit down.
Thanks for checking in. I’m so grateful for you!
Are you looking for more inspiration to keep your head up?
Read my Book.
Bunny Terry is a native New Mexican who grew up on a farm in northeastern New Mexico. Her first writing job was typing stories on index cards on her family’s Underwood, stories that were uncannily like the ones she read over and over in O Ye’ Jigs and Julips, her favorite childhood book. No one thought to save those index cards for posterity, although there is the theory sarcastically circulated by her siblings that they will certainly be worth millions someday. 