We, human beings, are prone to negative thinking. And while criticism might affect our self-esteem for weeks, months, or even years, compliments on the contrary tend to go in one ear and out the other.

Good news is you can fight this human bias simply by appreciating more the goods things in life and expressing gratitude.

Embracing a grateful habit will help you build positivism for your next chess competitions. All you need is to focus a few minutes on positive events from your everyday life.

Does a chess player really need to be grateful?

The lack of self-esteem for a competitor can easily make him/her underplay. If you analyze interviews by great champions in all disciplines, you’ll realize how confident you need to be to stay at the top. Even the current world champion, Magnus Carlsen, makes it abundantly clear every time he is asked about the importance of believing in yourself.

Due to the psychological strain it places on players, chess requires not only moves but also mental fortifications along the way. And being grateful is a must in this field.

As simple as it might seem, science showed the more you are appreciative, the more your brain gets accustomed to positivism and confidence, which leads to an overall well-being.

And benefits actually don’t stop there. Researchers have also found that practicing gratitude is also linked to better sleep and lower anxiety. As a final bonus, it looks like you could also increase your decision-making abilities.

But here comes the most interesting part. Expressing gratitude for just 1 minute a day is already sufficient to make an impact.

We can get back to the initial question and answer confidently that yes, being grateful can definitely be useful for a chess player.

So let’s see how it works now.

How do I apply gratitude?

Ranging from the easiest to the toughest, here are 3 ways to help you apply gratitude in your life:

• 1 minute of gratefulness: That’s what I was talking about a few lines earlier. You can use one minute of your time to think about 3 things to be grateful for each day. Health, family, comfort or even simple stuff like the food you enjoy. Anything goes.
• Collecting positive feedbacks: When something great happens, simply note it down. Literally file away compliments you receive as well as all your success and even the smallest wins. Your record of victories can be checked every time you feel the need to get yourself back on motivation track.
• 30-day challenge without complaining: I personally haven’t tried yet but I imagine how hard this challenge can be. For the bravest, you can try this challenge which seems to be a life-changer if you succeed. Here is a quick video on how to proceed. Good luck in advance!

Thank you!

Noticing and recounting appreciations instead of taking them for granted is overall a great start-off point for general well-being. I personally enjoy saying thank you every day and hope it will be helpful for my experiment.

I guess these lasts words are the perfect occasion to say thank you to all of you readers, who take the time to read what I write!

So, thank you again!