I don’t get what I deserve - thank goodness
I was thinking the other day, “I work hard—very hard. I really don’t get my fair share—I deserve more.” Maybe you’ve got a way to prevent this type of thinking but it’s easy for me to slip into. Whether I’m assessing the amount of free time, the places I get to go on vacation, the restaurants and frequency I visit them, the popularity of my writing and my business, the regard and respect I get from my adult children, my endurance and speed running—I somehow think I deserve more.
As I was starting to drown in my “I deserve more” thinking, I remembered the reason I started my business, Gratitude at Work—it was born of the realization
“my life was handed to me on a silver platter.”
Can you see ‘deserve’ in this belief ? Of course not !
Seriously, if I got what I deserved,
what society and family would I be born into ?
what system of education, healthcare and public safety would I have earned commensurate with my contribution ?
what access would I have to food, clothing and shelter and how would the barriers to these fairly align with/match up against the time and energy I’ve devoted towards each of these ?
If I got a glimpse of what I actually deserve, I think I’d be shocked and terrified—maybe even feel like I’m in a horror movie.
While we are making huge strides in progress as humanity, there is still massive social inequity and injustice in the world. A lot of people deserve more—and truly many deserve a lot more.
I hope you never hear me utter these words again and I hope you’ll think twice before saying “I deserve more.”
Most leaders underestimate the impact of what they “go on about.”
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A simple reminder with big implications for culture and communication.
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👉 Watch the video 🎥 and explore how to close the gap before gravity does.
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👉 Watch the video and consider the story you’re telling your team.
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In 1987, at my first job as an engineer, my boss’s boss—Fraser Blair—felt larger than life. He had a booming voice, a big presence, and a senior title that honestly intimidated me. One day I asked him a simple question about the origin of “Mahone Bay.” That night, at 10pm, he called me at home with the answer. That quiet act of follow-through completely disarmed my fear and built a bridge of trust and camaraderie that changed how I worked.
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👉 Watch the video below and reflect on how your own follow-through shapes trust at work. 🎥
“Steve, I’ve tried the gratitude list thing… it just doesn’t work for me.”
That’s what a participant told me at a recent gratitude retreat. Her experience is more common than you might think. A lot of people—and a lot of leaders—are faithfully writing gratitude lists that never really touch the heart. The problem isn’t gratitude itself; it’s that we’re only practicing one-third of it.
In this video, I walk through three components of meaningful gratitude:
In the video below, I share how I shifted from vague expectations to a clear, five‑minute integrity talk that spelled out what cheating looked like, what the consequences were, and why it mattered. More importantly, I share the leadership question that changed everything: “What did I not say, clarify, model, or reinforce that might have made this outcome more likely?”
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👉 Watch now and discover how to build trust by embracing curiosity.
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Through years of facilitating executive groups, I’ve seen how removing the pressure to “fix” leads to deeper, more honest, and more impactful insights.
This video explores a simple yet powerful practice you can use immediately with your leadership team.
🎥👉 Watch now and elevate your leadership approach