Happy Thanksgiving Reader,

I’m no saint.

Every Thanksgiving I spent away — on an aircraft carrier, submerged on a submarine, or eating dust in Iraq — I missed my family so bad I wanted to punch a bulkhead.

But I saw the younger Sailors and Marines hurting even worse. Some were shutting down hard.

So I forced myself to take one small Whitt Step: sit down next to one of them, crack a dumb joke, or simply ask,

“Hey, what’s your favorite Thanksgiving memory with your family?”

Within minutes the whole table was roaring — stories about drunk uncles, lopsided pies, dogs stealing the turkey.

We were still homesick as hell… but for a little while we were laughing, swapping memories, and accidentally using the most powerful focus tool I know:

Gratitude on purpose.

That 60-second shift changed the energy every single time.

Your Whitt Step right now:

Stop and think of the ONE thing (or person) you’re most grateful for this year. Really feel it for 30 seconds.

Watch what happens.

Want the full Navy-tested playbook for turning gratitude into unbreakable focus 365 days a year?

Chapter 15 of To Getting It Done is yours — 100 % free. I’ve pasted it below for you.

Wishing you great food, loud laughs, and at least one moment tomorrow when you feel exactly how lucky we really are.

To getting it done — and being damn grateful while we do it!

Vr,

Mike

To Getting It Done

P.S. Hit reply and tell me the ONE thing you’re most grateful for this year. My family reads every single reply together on Thanksgiving night. It’s our favorite new tradition.

[← Chapter 15 starts here →]

Use Gratitude To Focus

BLUF: Use gratitude to focus. A winning formula for everyone!

Focus! It’s one of the most powerful tools you can use to complete that task, project, or goal. I’m sure we’re all looking for ways to improve our focus. Is there one winning way you can always use to improve your focus?

I believe there is, and it’s very simple: Use gratitude! There are many creative ways to increase your focus, and you should try everything and then use what works best for you. At the same time, always be open to change because what worked yesterday may not work today. But for now, keep reading, as I think this is something you’ll want to try if you’re not doing it already: Using gratitude to improve your focus.

WHAT IS GRATITUDE?

Gratitude is defined in the dictionary as the quality of being thankful and being ready to show appreciation for and return kindness. In my simple analysis, it’s giving thanks for something that makes you feel good. I know, Captain Obvious, but it is that simple. Just be thankful for something that makes you feel good or happy—and it can be anything! Just thinking about that one thing you are grateful for improves your focus on that very thing!

All of us have been thankful at one time or another for something by expressing thanks out loud, writing about it, praying on it, wearing shirts that say Blessed, or just thinking about it. Regardless of beliefs, religion, background, or age, we all experience gratitude in one form or another at some point in our life. Gratitude, in my opinion, is the most potent emotion, feeling, or action you can use in your life to achieve anything!

WHY DOES USING GRATITUDE INCREASE YOUR FOCUS?

Can you remember all the times when you were thankful for something? Didn’t it make you feel fantastic inside? For example, giving thanks for Thanksgiving Dinner with family, finding a quarter under your car seat while cleaning, or when you got a raise or promotion at your job—I’m sure all of these moments felt amazing! Being thankful lifted your spirit and made you focus on happy things to be thankful for, which created even more stuff for you to be thankful for.

Think about all the times you were thankful that you kept on trying and didn’t give up, which led to you accomplishing your objective because it increased your focus. How about all the times you were thankful for the opportunity that led to you focusing on something important to you? I know I can say that about many things in my life, and I’m sure you can think of several.

During my Naval career (very thankful for that), there were many times that, by displaying gratitude, I increased my focus and achieved success. For example, at one point early in my career, I was told I could not be promoted to First Class Petty Officer (E6) because I didn’t score high enough on a test. Even though I wasn’t advanced, I was very thankful that I had scored extremely high on the exam and came close to being advanced—less than a tenth of a point away. So close! Typically, someone scoring that high would have been in the Navy many years longer than I had been, so I was extremely grateful to have scored that high on the test.

I continued to be thankful and focused on studying for the next exam, which was six months away. Anytime I felt like I was not studying as much as I should or that maybe I’d rather watch TV instead because I was tired after work, I shifted to focused gratitude. After six months of being thankful and an increased focus on studying, I’m happy to report I scored high enough to be advanced to First Class Petty Officer. Again, this was all thanks to focused gratitude. Expressing gratitude led to increased focus, taking action by studying more, and ultimately success by scoring high enough on the test to be promoted.

HOW TO USE GRATITUDE TO INCREASE YOUR FOCUS

You can improve your focus by displaying gratitude in writing, word of mouth, actions, or feelings. One of my favorite quotes on this subject is by Oprah Winfrey: “Focusing on one thing that you are grateful for increases the energy of gratitude and rises the joy inside yourself.” Gratitude and focus are interchangeable. To keep it simple, being thankful for that one thing leads to an increased focus on that one thing. Likewise, when you focus on that one thing it leads to increased gratitude on that one thing. It’s a win-win no matter how you play it.

Gratitude helps you attract what you are thankful for. You’ve heard it said that thoughts equal things or like attracts like. You’ve probably read books, seen quotes, or even listened to others talk about how to get what you want by thinking about it or that you attract what you think about the most. I’m sure many of you have even experienced it. You’re sitting there and thinking about something for a second, and suddenly it happens—you get a phone call from a friend you’ve been thinking about, or maybe as you are writing that hit song, another line comes to mind, and you write it down, then another, and so on. It happens because you are focusing on that thing. Gratitude can help you with that focus at any time. Gratitude is like focus on steroids!

Since we’re talking about gratitude and focus, let me tell you another sea story about how gratitude and focus helped me. (Bonus—you get two in this chapter.) I’ll keep specifics of this sea story to a minimum to protect the innocent, but once upon a time, I was newly reporting on a ship in the Fleet. The person previously in my job had been fired from this senior-level, high-visibility job. Upon reporting, I found the most senior people onboard the ship, including the Captain, the Executive Officer, and several senior Department Heads, did not seem to be happy about my performance from the start. I believe they equated me to the previous person in my position, who had been fired. They constantly found little nitpicking things to criticize about my people and me. It was not fun. (What? Did you think all my tours were rosy?) I was doing everything I could to work hard and gain their support, but after six months and the pressures of this demanding position, I was ready to quit. Then I suddenly realized that I had forgotten one of the most important things I should have been doing all along—I had forgotten to focus on being thankful for several things:

1. To be thankful for getting this very important job in the first place. I mean, this was one of the best jobs in the Navy;

2. To be thankful for all the abilities or “tools” I had garnered up to this point in order to do this difficult job, and;

3. To be thankful for all the people in my department. This was the biggest workforce I had ever supervised and, if you know me, you know I wanted all of them to be successful. But that could not happen if I continued down my current path. I had forgotten that the team comes first and that I should be thankful for that amazing group of Sailors and how much they were improving and growing each day!

When I started showing gratitude for and focusing on all I had, it began to change on that day (and I’m not exaggerating). One of the two most senior people on the ship called me about an hour after I had this epiphany and asked me to come up to their stateroom. I’m thinking, “What did I do now!” but once I arrived, I found he just wanted to thank my Sailors and me for a crisis a few weeks back, which I had long forgotten about, that my team had resolved. He told me to keep up the great work and dismissed me. From that point forward, it seemed like the other senior Officers came around as well, and it turns out that my people and I were very successful during the next several years onboard this ship—and this was all due to focused gratitude.

Using gratitude creates focus tenfold! You think about a task you’re thankful to be working on or achieving. You’re now shining light on this task. Your focus increases positively, and suddenly your focus is so strong you figure out or complete the task. It’s that simple. Just be thankful for what you are focusing on, and you will significantly increase your focus on that particular action, leading to success. This works for millions of people daily and will work for you too—it all starts by expressing gratitude!

Now that you know how to use gratitude to focus, give it a try! Focus on being thankful for a goal, project, or task you are working on, how far you’ve come, what you have right now, and the people you support and those who support you. Success will surely follow when you use focused gratitude and take some action!

To Getting It Done!

P.S. Want more momentum in 2026? Here are your 3 paths to keep the wins coming: 1. Speaking / Training — Bring my “3 Submarine Secrets to Get Your Most Important Thing Done—TODAY, FIRST, NOW” keynote or workshop to your team, board, or event. Limited 2026 dates filling fast — reply “KEYNOTE” now for availability. 2. Monthly Group Coaching — One 60-min team call + 30-min personal call. Ongoing support to crush priorities — reply “GROUP” for details. 3. The Book — “To Getting It Done” — 38 Navy-proven tools direct for $5.99 (instant download) here: https://togettingitdone.kit.com/products/to-getting-it-done-book-kindle-epub-​ First 5 buyers this week get a free 15-min Whitt Step call (custom Watchbill to kickstart results). Click the book image below to grab it now and start winning! For Paperback or Audio version on Amazon click here MICHAEL A. WHITT To Getting It Done! Website: www.togettingitdone.com/​ Email: michael@togettingitdone.com​ Cell: (808) 295-1591​ Q: Have you helped someone else to make the world a better place today? ​​​

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