3 Ways To Give Gratitude As A Habit And Rewire Your Life Forever

 

'Edwin, what kind of nonsense are you asking me to do?'

One of my clients said that to my face — with conviction. You would think I had asked him to climb Mt. Kenya barefoot or enroll in a 7-day silent meditation retreat run by monks who don’t smile. But no. I had asked him to write six gratitudes a day.

My heart skipped a beat. Not because he was rude — I coach grown adults; I’ve heard worse — but because I needed to find the perfect words to help him see what I already knew: gratitude, when structured correctly, is one of the most powerful habit tools a human can ever master.

Not the fleeting gratitude you whisper once a month when Safaricom gives you 200 Bonga Points.
I’m talking about deliberate, disciplined, habit-forming gratitude — the kind that builds emotional resilience, enhances focus, and rewires your thinking from the inside out.

Today, I want to show you the core message:
Gratitude is not an emotion — it is a trainable habit that rewires how you interpret your life, challenges, and progress.

And I train it through three powerful layers:

1. Wins Gratitude
2. Mundane Gratitude
3. Challenge Gratitude

Let’s break each one down.

Layer 1: Wins Gratitude — Why Counting Small Wins Builds Big Momentum

When I ask clients to write down two wins every day, they usually want them to be dramatic.
“I want to write that I made a million today!”
No.
“You mean I should write something small?”
Exactly.

I teach wins the same way you build a dog house — not because I think you’re building one, but because it shows the power of atomized progress:

• Day 1: Buy materials → Win
• Day 2: Cut timber pieces → Win
• Day 3: Build subfloor → Win

You don’t celebrate the house.
You celebrate the milestones.

Why?
Because the brain runs on rewards, if you don’t reward yourself intentionally, your brain will go looking for the easiest reward available — scrolling, sugar, gossip, or anything that gives you quick gratification without supporting your character.

Wins gratitudes teach your brain to look for progress instead of perfection.
It gives you momentum, and momentum creates consistency — the holy grail of habit formation.

After a few weeks, we move from six gratitudes to ten, and trust me, this expansion becomes almost automatic. When the mind learns to spot wins, it will hunt for them everywhere.

Layer 2: Mundane Gratitude — The Forgotten Art of Not Taking Life for Granted

This part always makes people uncomfortable — because we do not like to admit how ungrateful we are for simple things.

We live in a world that wants fireworks every day. If life is not exciting, we think something is wrong. That’s how we lose connection with the present moment and start living either in the fantasy of the future or the ghost of the past.

Yet the mundane is where your life actually happens.

• The warm bed you woke up in.
• The shower you took.
• The fact that your back didn’t scream when you got out of bed.
• The birds that dared to sing your morning soundtrack for free.

These are the blessings we overlook.

Mundane gratitude anchors you to the now, and the now is where peace lives. Once you begin acknowledging the simple gifts around you, a doorway opens — a deep sense of contentment, presence, and emotional stability.

It’s not magic.
It’s awareness.
And awareness is a habit.

Layer 3: Challenge Gratitude — Training Your Mind to Rise, Not Collapse

Now this one separates the “I’m trying” from the “I’m transforming.”

Challenges visit all of us. They don’t knock. They walk in, sit on the couch, and cross their legs like they’re paying rent. And with every challenge comes a choice:

• Collapse into negativity
• Float in the middle
• Or rise intentionally

The third form of gratitude — being thankful for your challenges — is not about pretending the pain isn’t real. It's about recognizing that:

• Pressure builds strength
• Hard moments refine character
• Trials expose your resilience
• And rising is a skill you can train

Like Job in the Bible, your story does not have to end with defeat. Giving thanks for the challenge shifts the posture of your thoughts, the quality of your emotional responses, and even the direction of your decision-making.

This habit trains you to become the kind of person who doesn’t break easily.

Conclusion: Gratitude as a Mastery Practice

Years ago, I read a book about becoming a better writer. It didn’t talk about inspiration, talent, or mood. It talked about mastery — about writing daily, reading daily, and improving intentionally over time.

You don’t become a great writer because you feel like one. You become one by doing the work. Gratitude works the same way.

It is not something you “feel.” It is something you build, like a muscle, through daily repetition.

When you practice wins, mundane, and challenge gratitude consistently — with the intention to grow — your mindset transforms in ways you never imagined:

• You notice progress daily
• You appreciate life deeply
• You rise from challenges faster

And eventually you look back and realize:
You became the person you were trying to create — one small gratitude at a time.

Call to Action:

Tonight — not tomorrow — sit down with pen and paper.
Write 6 gratitudes: 2 wins, 2 mundane blessings, 2 challenges.
Do it for 7 days and observe your mindset shift from survival to strength.