10,000 steps a day is proven to positively impact your health.

How many steps will you take today?

If physical health is your only goal, you can stop reading now, lace up your tennis shoes and start walking.

If, like most people, your goals encompass physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health, shoes are optional, get comfortable (for now), and continue reading.

Starting today, 10,000 steps can provide the simple structure for discovering how gratitude must ultimately be part of the journey toward your dreams.

Can 10,000 steps a day really make you grateful and eventually take you to your dreams?

Yes, but in reality only you can answer that question at some point down the road.

Let’s start with an easier question:

How many steps will you take today?

Too many to count if you don’t have a tracking device, right?

Even if you are tracking your steps, how many will you remember? How many of today’s steps have you shown gratitude for? Your list might include:

• The step this morning when your foot landed on your child’s Lego or your dog’s chew toy as you made your way in the dark to the kitchen. Did the words you yelped include gratitude for your child or your pet?
• The step into your manager’s office to discuss the delays on your project. Did you express gratitude for your job and a reasonable boss?
• The step onto the treadmill as you hoped to make today’s goal of 10,000 steps. Of course gratitude for your health was what you were thinking about.
• The step you almost took toward inviting your favorite barista out for coffee, or maybe it should be lunch, or maybe it should be…but the moment slipped by. At least after you stepped aside for the next customer to order, you had a great cup of coffee to enjoy.
• Or maybe you’re already dreaming about that last step before you drop into bed tonight. Is this step blanketed in gratitude every night or are you asleep before your head hits the pillow and dream about practicing gratitude — tomorrow?

We’ve all missed important life steps — big, small, positive, and negative — where gratitude would have made a difference in how we connected to the lessons of the moment. Paying attention is part of the gratitude journey, but first you have to decide to take it.

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” — Chauncey Depew

Maybe you feel stuck in one area of your life, but through a gratitude practice you might begin to appreciate the period of rest it offers. Or maybe you feel disconnected from your dreams and a gratitude practice uses the disconnect as an opportunity to reframe or change the direction of your dreams. Practicing gratitude can help you leave the space you are in and move toward where you want to be. What will you risk to experience change, movement, momentum?

How about a single step? Maybe two?

What if those steps are the same steps your feet take today, but they will lead you in a new direction? Where would you go? What would that new place look like? Who would be there?

Will you dare to dream?

“Ask yourself, ‘How long am I going to work to make my dreams come true?’ I suggest you answer, ‘As long as it takes.’” — Jim Rohn

And because the best goals are attainable, measurable, and public, I suggest you tell someone, “Today I will start working towards my dreams by taking the first of 10,000 steps.”

A lot of solid information already exists about goal-setting and how to succeed in achieving those goals. Information based on years of research and neuroscience. But for the next few minutes, you’ll focus on how the simple physical act of taking a step can bring gratitude into the world, reveal the happiness inside you, and clear a path for your dreams.

Will you take a chance? Take a single step? Maybe even 10,000 steps today?

The Initial Investment

Taking 10,000 steps costs no money. It requires no fitness tracker. And any pair of shoes will work.

It will, however, cost your most precious resource, time.

Like everyone else, every day, you empty your time account: 24 hours, 1440 minutes, 86,400 seconds. It’s the everyday expenditure we each make in order to invest in one day of life. And miraculously every day your account is refilled. Full, but not overflowing. The exact amount you need: 86,400 perfect seconds. And yes, one day, your account will be short. You may have insight as to when that day will be or it may catch you by surprise. For now your final withdrawal from the time bank doesn’t matter as gratitude is primarily practiced in the present moment.

While life is a risky investment, the rewards are many. You know this. You’ve experienced the rewards: family, friends, and the ability to dream.

Since you’re reading this, it’s safe to assume your time bank account has funds and you are ready to make a small withdrawal to fund your first investment in a Gratitude Walk.

Initial Time Bank Withdrawal

For your safety and the safety of those around you, please take the time to read through the rest of the article before attempting your first Gratitude Walk. You’ve seen what can happen when walkers pay more attention to their reading devices than to their surroundings — hello, parking meter that doesn’t move on impact.

The steps are highlighted so you can easily find them when you want to put the plan into action.

However, instead of just reading the steps on your first pass, visualize yourself taking those steps. Really? You thought simply reading the article was enough? Nope. I’ll explain visualization in more detail later, but for now if you can use your imagination, you can visualize. Simply create pictures for the words you read.

The good news is while you read this article and visualize your Gratitude Walk, you don’t need to be move your feet. Take a seat, get comfortable, and move your eyes down the page.

Your Gratitude Walk

Welcome to the first of 10,000 steps on your Gratitude Walk.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

— Mark Twain

Step 1: Step with your left foot.

Does it really have to be the left foot? And only one step? That’s going to take a long time to get to 10,000 isn’t it?

Yes, yes, and as Samuel Smiles said, “Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.”

Step 2: Step with your right foot.

Shouldn’t we have started on the right, you know, in order to get off on the “right foot?”

No. You’ve probably started plenty of journeys with your right foot. Has it guaranteed success?

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Step 3: Step with your left foot and inhale.

Step 4: Step with your right foot and exhale.

Go ahead scroll down (I would if I were you). Verify whether there are 9,996 more steps listed.

Step 5: Let’s keep moving. Take 10 steps forward, breathing naturally. Offer gratitude for this article not documenting each of the 10,000 steps to gratitude. Look down at your feet and offer gratitude for them. Thank them not just for the last 10 steps, but for the first four of this journey, and the thousands since your very first steps as a child.

Today, wherever you are, whatever time it is, this is a beginning. Your beginning. These are your first steps to creating a walking gratitude habit.

Do you remember your first steps? Most of us don’t. Were your first steps captured on video or a Polaroid (yes, there is a link for those readers who need it)? Maybe your parents told you the story or maybe you know nothing about how old you were or where you were for step one. But today, today you will remember your first steps because, like back then, you will start slowly, noticing each step forward. Then you will gain momentum, step after step, right after left, your breath increasing with your pace. You may soon feel like you are flying compared to your start, but right before your feet leave the ground, you will pause.

Why?

Because this is definitely not a race, and it’s intentionally more than your typical walk. The goal is not distance traveled or time of arrival. The goal is to reframe your everyday steps into a Gratitude Walk. It will take practice. It won’t be easy. If it was, you would have done it already, right?

Through your repeated steps and automatic breathing, you have achieved adult proficiency for walking. Congratulations! But now it is time to challenge yourself.

Only 9,985 steps to go.

Step 16: Beginning with your left foot, take 100 steps at a comfortable pace. Count them. Don’t use your step tracker to count. You can count up from one or count down from one hundred, but count each step. Stop. This is not a pause or simply slowing the pace. Stop. Close your eyes.

Are you still wondering why you have to start with your left foot? Because it forces you to stop and think before you take a step. It breaks your routine of taking for granted forward movement and engages your brain rather than mindlessly walking.

Since you’ve already proven you have proficient breathing skills, it’s time for a new challenge: visualization.

Visualization is a skill.

Think of it as a muscle in the brain. And just like a muscle in your arm or leg, it needs attention and practice to grow stronger. Like the artist who has imagined the picture she wants to paint, and spends hours working with colors or different brush techniques before she places her brush on the canvas, you too will need to practice visualization. Using visualization you focus both on the big picture and all the details needed to make it complete.

In this case, rather than bicep curls or paintbrush techniques, you will practice using your imagination. It will be challenging at first. It will take time. Kids are really good at visualization, but adults let this skill fade. Visualization will also be one of the most important skills on your journey towards your dreams.

“All things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default.” — Stephen Covey

Begin by visualizing your first Gratitude Walk.

See yourself alone with your eyes closed. Notice the anticipation in your face and in your body. Notice the hope in your smile and how your weight is slightly forward on your toes as you imagine moving forward. Notice how you open your eyes and take in your surroundings.

Where will you start and where will you go? Around your neighborhood or through unfamiliar surroundings? In the city or at the beach? One, two, three…pick your starting point. I see many Gratitude Walks in your future, so you can easily choose a different starting point next time.

Congratulations, you strengthened and practiced your visualization skill by picturing yourself in the backdrop of your first Gratitude Walk.

Now for a few more details.

What shoes are you wearing? Tennies or sandals? Cowboy boots or work boots? Make decisions on attainability not practicality. Practicality is deciding based on someone else’s visualizations. What can you achieve? If you see yourself walking 10,000 steps in high-heels, visualize it and you will do it.

Imagine the clothes you are wearing and the time of day. Offer thanks — a whisper, a deeper breath, or taking the time to notice one more detail.

Will your Gratitude Walk begin on your way to work or walking home from school? Is the sun coming up, going down, or high in the sky?

What sounds do you hear and what scents hang in the air? Are horns honking and fresh coffee brewing? Or do you hear silence and smell snow melting into the damp earth? Did you have to stop and consider what melting snow smells like? Imagine it. Then think about what other scents surround you on this walk. Offer thanks, letting the sounds and scents prompt your expression of gratitude.

What do you feel and taste? As you inhale, is sand squishing between your toes and salt from the air coating your tongue? Or as you exhale, are your hands deep in the pockets of a down coat and is mint toothpaste refreshing your frozen breath?

Is your picture in full color and so vivid you could reach your hand out now and feel the chill or warmth of it on your fingertips? Feel each detail wrap your heart with gratitude — offer thanks.

Step 126: Open your eyes and take another 100 steps. Enjoy the momentum, but remember to continue counting steps. Stop. Close your eyes. Who do you see walking with you?

No one, right?

But you don’t have to take this journey by yourself. Do you want to? The answer may be different from day to day.

Unexpected changes and additional questions are opportunities for gratitude. They force us to shift our thinking.

Even when the closest walking human is 10 steps, 20 yards, or 100 miles from you, you are not alone. Their feet are hitting the ground and creating vibrations on the same planet you are walking on. Did you feel their vibrations from the ground to your feet as you walked? Did you feel the vibrations you sent back into the earth for them to feel?

Step 226: Open your eyes. Take 100 more steps. Close your eyes. Are you getting comfortable with closing your eyes yet? If not, you have 9,675 steps to work on that. Do you feel the vibrations now? Can you imagine the person who is making those vibrations?

Go ahead, be creative. Does she have blue hair or no hair? Is he a complete stranger or a loved one? Imagine someone who will make you smile.

Invite this person to walk next to you for a while.

Smile at them and imagine them smiling back at you. Thank them for taking these steps with you.

Your Gratitude Walk doesn’t have to be done alone.

They probably won’t walk side-by-side with you for the next 9,675 steps, but all you have to do is visualize the next person who will walk with you, even if she is 10,000 steps away from you.

You are not alone.

Step 326: Open your eyes. Take 10 steps. Close your eyes. What do you see around you? What is in front of or behind you? What is to your left and to your right? Find one thing in each direction to be thankful for. Could you do it without opening your eyes? If not, you have 9,665 more steps to practice being aware of your surroundings.

What have you visualized in your first 335 steps that you’ve previously taken for granted or perhaps never even noticed until this walk? A heron gliding over the lake or the sound of seniors laughing as they ride by on their tandem bicycle? The smell of your neighbor’s garden or the wind brushing your neck?

Step 336: Open your eyes and walk. Don’t count steps. Just walk. Go as far or as long as you like. Who is with you? What do you see, smell, or feel? Offer thanks for everything you notice. Be bold and do it out loud, or humbly visualize your gratitude leaving your body as positive energy and coloring the air with love.

Step 5280: Close your eyes. What do you see?

Wait, are you wondering how you got to step 5280? What happened to step 948 or 2750? Did you notice those steps? Did you miss the entire range of steps 1492 through 1865?

This is your Gratitude Walk. What did you visualize? Who or what did you offer gratitude for?

The answers are in you.

When it comes to your Gratitude Walk, the number of steps, the open or closed eyes, the when, and the where, don’t matter. A fitness tracker is not required. What matters is whether you notice your feet taking steps and the gifts that surround you with each step.

Step 9,990: Take the last ten steps to wherever you end your day. Close your eyes. Who did you notice today? Who did you offer gratitude for through a smile, a gesture, or words? You won’t recall the exact step when it happened, but do you remember the feeling? Can you feel that now? Offer thanks for that feeling. Visualize that feeling leaving your body and being deposited in that person’s time bank. Trust that your account is being refilled by others who are grateful for you. Even one person, walking miles away can make a huge deposit in your account.

You are not on this journey alone.

If you ever feel alone on your Gratitude Walk, visualize me walking with you because I am probably visualizing you. If it helps, I’ll be the one walking the grey-faced Golden Retriever.

Take your first step today. Offer thanks. Walk on.