Welcome to the 2018 Great Gratitude Experiment!
The Great Gratitude Experiment #ggexp is a chance for you to personally experiment with research-based strategies for cultivating gratitude to enhance your well-being. The basic expectation is that you will spend 21 days (~20 minutes per day) learning about and practicing strategies for cultivating gratitude.
You will use the resources and strategies highlighted in the Gratitude Module, keep a record of your progress, and at the end of your personal experiment provide feedback on what you found helpful.
In addition to the likely personal benefits from this experience, by participating and providing feedback on the module you will earn a free landscape image of your choice from Jared Warren Photography as a token of my gratitude.
This is not a formal research project; questionnaire responses are completely anonymous, no identifiable information will be retained, and any information you provide is not intended to contribute to generalizable knowledge. This is simply an invitation to zero in on the specific gratitude practices that will make a difference in your life, and to give me feedback on how to make the module resources more helpful for more people.
Sound good?! The official group experiment will start Thursday, November 1st, and go until the day before Thanksgiving, November 21st. If you need to start later, that’s ok; you can start as late as December 3rd (finishing and providing feedback by December 24th) to be eligible for the free landscape image.
Here’s how to participate:
Commit to doing this! Share your intention on social media or just tell a friend or family member what you’re doing; not to bring attention to yourself, but to promote your own accountability. You can join the official Facebook Event here. If possible, recruit family and friends to participate with you, so you can give each other encouragement and share what’s worked.
As a baseline for your efforts, take the Gratitude Questionnaire and Survey on Flourishing. Record your scores for later reference.
Using the resources in the Gratitude Module, your aim is to spend at least 20 minutes per day learning about and/or practicing strategies for cultivating gratitude. The module content is good stuff, but the real magic is in the exercises. Try out as many of the exercises as you can, be creative, keep it fresh, and experiment with your own ideas.
Use the GGEXP spreadsheet to track your progress (see instructions on the second tab). I’m interested in whether the point system is motivating for people, but if you have your own way of tracking your progress and noting what’s helpful that’s fine too.
The GGEXP Event Page can be a good place to share experiences, ask questions, and provide support to others. Or post about your experiences elsewhere on social media using hashtags #ggexp #gratitude #mybestself101; we want as many people as possible to learn about these strategies!
At the end of the 21 days, take the Gratitude Questionnaire and Survey on Flourishing again as a post-test to see if your scores have changed. More importantly, identify the 2-3 gratitude strategies that resonated most with you and make a plan for how you can use these to make grateful living a long-term habit.
Finally, complete the brief feedback form about your experiences and what was helpful. On the form you can also submit a screenshot of your GGEXP spreadsheet and indicate which landscape image from Jared Warren Photography you’d like emailed to you. You will receive a 2048px jpg file which you have my permission to use for whatever personal/non-commercial purpose you choose - smartphone background, Facebook cover photo, or even a print for your home or office. I hope every time you look at the image it will be a fond reminder of your efforts to increase your capacity for grateful living.