237 Melinda Wittstock: The Gift of Gratitude

Melinda Wittstock is a serial entrepreneur who has built four successful businesses in digital media and tech. She shares today on Thanksgiving how her daily gratitude practice was the spark that ignited her success and helped her find alignment with her true passion and purpose. Join Melinda to learn how to use gratitude practically in your life – and to learn what she is grateful for today.

Today is Thanksgiving. A day of gratitude. A day of giving. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we lived as if every day was Thanksgiving? Most of the year … most people … spend most of their time … thinking about what they want rather than what they have, what they’re going to get instead of what they’re going to give, where they’d rather be rather than where they are right now, and what’s missing from their lives rather than all the abundant good we all have at our fingertips.

I’m Melinda Wittstock and Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family, your friends and colleagues.  Today on Wings of Inspired Business we talk about gratitude and giving.

My profound gratitude to you … for listening to this podcast (and telling all your friends about it…right…so they can also take flight in their lives and businesses) and my sincere thanks to all my inspiring guests for all they are able to teach us …

And all the people that make this podcast possible – including my audio editor Florante Valdez, who does such a great job in getting these episodes out every day!

My humble gratitude for being in a position to give forward all this knowledge and experience I’ve accumulated through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship in the past 30 years … in the hopes that I can save you time, money and a lot of skinned knees as you grow your business in alignment with your purpose and passions…

My joyful gratitude for all the blessings in my life – as well as my challenges … for if I’m honest I learned more from failing forward in my life than succeeding …

And of course my boundless gratitude for all that is to come next as I sit with my intentions and visualize them as though they have happened already …

You see what is truly transformational … is if we hold these thoughts EVERY DAY of the year …

I know this to be true because when I was at the worst point in my own life I spent a whole month in an intentional gratitude practice. There I was, broke with $4 in the bank as the aftereffect of a disastrous marriage to a verbally abusive alcoholic, two kids to feed as a single mom, and struggling to make my then startup up lift off – my confidence shaken, in fear, and not knowing how I would get back on my feet.
One day a book literally leapt off a shelf when strolling in a local bookstore. It was about gratitude. I bought it and I didn’t then know why.

And I leapt right in. Every day I spent two hours thinking of everyone and everything in my life who had benefited me. My goal was to honor at least 10 people a day, writing about them, looking at their pictures, celebrating them and feeling intense gratitude for all they are to the world, and how they helped me (often without them even knowing it). I also meditated on experiences I was grateful for. I remembered triumphs … I remembered how I had bounced back from adversity. I began to be grateful … for myself.

Before I knew it, my life started to turn around and miraculous opportunities opened up.

My gratitude practice has now evolved beyond celebrating the past, or even the present, and now includes the future I envision for myself.

I feel gratitude every morning in my meditation as I visualize my intentions, allowing myself to feel deep emotions of joy for what has yet to transpire.

And as I celebrate the realization of these intentions, I ask too for inspiration. More specifically I ask in my meditation to recognize opportunities in alignment with my intentions and to act on the inspiration when it presents.

I share this with you this Thanksgiving because I know it works.

So as you count your blessings with friends and family over turkey with all the trimmings, I want you to take some quiet time for yourself … to really reflect and focus on what is truly wonderful about your life right now.

Grab a pen and paper and write free flow nonstop for a whole hour … listing every last little thing you can think of that you are grateful for. When you think you can’t write any more, keep going. Even if all you can think about is the pen you’re writing with!

Small things. Big things. Past things. Present things. Future things. People. Pets. Passions.

And as you write, I want you to feel your feelings. Truly feel the joy of gratitude.

And when you do you’ll be less likely to get triggered by relatives, past hurts, those family arguments, and all the old subconscious beliefs that come with all of that … you’ll be more likely to stay above the fray with a smile on your face, because you’ll know you’re manifesting your future – and all the joy, abundance, wealth and impact you envision.

Because the irony is … when we’re grateful for all that is right now … we attract all that we want in our lives, and of course the reverse is true too: If we’re focused only on what upsets, angers or frustrates us, we attract more of that energy into our lives.

So use this day – and all days – to begin or enhance your gratitude practice.

Now in a moment I am going to share more about what I am grateful for today, and first I have a special invitation for you.

Because you may look the women I interview for this podcast – women who make success look easy – and you may wonder what their secret truly is. And if you’ve been listening closely, you know it has a lot to do with mindset – what you believe about yourself and your value, and the gratitude you feel and the intentions you set.

Here’s the thing: We all need help, support and understanding to let go of what holds us back from success in business – so that’s why I’m inviting you into my INNER CIRCLE. When you join the Inner Circle you get direct access to me and my extensive referral network of top tier entrepreneurs and investors – think of us as your mentors. You’ll have access to a growing library of teachings across Mindset Mojo and Money – all from more than 65 women who’ve built 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 figure businesses – and all their inspirations, aha moments and practical advice you can implement with the support of your mentors and peers in an online mastermind and with live and interactive group coaching with me. So please accept my exclusive invitation to the Inner Circle with our special Thanksgiving discount for Wings listeners – go to wingspodcast.com/innercircle – that’s wingspodcast.com/innercircle. I sure wish I’d had ALL these masterclasses curated in one place at my fingertips years ago because I know that it was only when I invested in coaching and masterminds that my first business turned the corner. So sign up now at wingspodcast.com/innercircle

I can’t wait to fly with you!

Hi I’m Melinda Wittstock and I am so grateful you are here with me today on Thanksgiving.

I want to take a moment for a quick shout out to listeners who have reviewed Wings of Inspired Business on iTunes.

This from the “Variety Artist” – “Melinda is the perfect host. She asks the right questions and gets the right answers”. And this from Katie Joy B: “Melinda and her stellar guests shine the brightest of lights on what it means to be a female in business. Bold, insightful and engaging are just a few of the words I would use to describe the time you will spend with them. Thanks for putting out such a superb show Melinda – keep up the great work.”

I am so moved by these reviews. Thank you!

Here’s another from SharkTank Entrepreneur: “Fantastic podcast: Thank you for sharing these amazing interviews on your podcast. I love that your guests are so open and vulnerable to share their struggles and their big wins. Love it.”

And this from Joya.Love: “I love how you help us spread our wings!,” she says. “Melinda has a unique gift. She loves women, humanity, expansive potential, uniqueness and being a thriving entrepreneur. She loves to inspire us to put on our wings to in life and in business. She encourages us to soar, beyond any mini-me, programming or limitation. She does so with great enthusiasm and lots of laughter by sharing her own personal journey and giving voice to other women. Together is her motto – together we can move mountains.”

I am grateful for these reviews and that I am in a position in my life … through all the ups and downs … to have the insights and wisdom to help so many women grow as people as they grow in business.

Please review the podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast – so more people can discover all my amazing guests … connect via wingspodcast.com/win to review so you can be entered into a draw to win an all-expense paid coaching day with me. You’ll also get the Wings of Success formula when you subscribe. Again, that’s wings podcast.com/win. (underlay some music here, softly…) And thank you again for the feedback!

I want to give a shout out too to all the women who have generously given their time to pay it forward to all of us by sharing so openly, honestly and in such vulnerable strength all they have learned along their entrepreneurial journeys. I want to affirm and acclaim all women entrepreneurs … because I believe for too long we have succeeded in silence, and it is time the stereotype of the entrepreneur changed from 20-something drop out dude in a hoodie inventing something in his parents’ garage. We’re not that and we’re changing the face of business.

So if you have a woman you want to nominate to be on this podcast – please give forward – by nominating her to be featured as a game-changing entrepioneer on Wings. Maybe you are the one you should be nominating!

Please go to Facebook.com/wingspodcast – like the page and nominate your super-sheros. Or follow me on Instagram at melindawittstock2020 and nominate there.

Thank you, and wishing you a very special Thanksgiving.

There’s one more thing about that gratitude exercise I shared with you. Of course you can keep it private – and you can also choose to inspire others to lift themselves and others up too – by sharing some of the things you are grateful for … from your past, your present and your future.

Please join me in doing that on our Facebook and Instagram feeds today.

Much love, light and gratitude for you!

 

Happy Thanksgiving.