Gratitude Time! I recently read a great article on how to be successful in business, which stated that the only trick in the book which you need to know is how to be grateful. Dale carnegie suggests a similar idea in his work 'how to win friends and influence people', when he emphasises that appreciation of others, no matter how high or low, is crucial to building strong professional and personal relationships. How does being grateful make us successful? Gratitude is the key to appreciating each little success as it comes, and helps you build up to bigger and better wins as time goes on. It helps you to appreciate your own achievements throughout the day, so that you can put yourself in positive and productive frame of mind. It also helps to build rapport with everyone we come across. The best thing about gratitude is that it's free! It really costs nothing to smile at the receptionist, to wish someone a good day, or to say, 'thank you, I really appreciate your help!' No one is too lowly that you shouldn't deign to speak to them or appreciate them, often they are the ones putting in the most hard graft! In the spirit of gratitude, I wanted to give a big shout out to all the receptionists I had to call today in order to double check contact details with - I'm sure you were busy and you get these calls a lot, I really appreciate your help, thank you very much! I'm also very grateful to all the chefs who take time out of their busy schedule to have a brief chat with me, even if they aren't interested in the products right now, I appreciate the effort it takes!