Gratitude Journal Prompts for Leaders

Why Leaders Should Journal About Gratitude

Research on gratitude journaling consistently shows benefits for wellbeing, resilience, and relationship quality. For leaders specifically, a regular gratitude practice does something more targeted: it trains the habit of noticing, which is the foundation of appreciative leadership.

Most leaders are excellent at noticing problems. Few have cultivated the same muscle for noticing what’s working, who’s contributing, and what deserves amplification. This 30-day practice is a direct intervention on that imbalance.

How to use this: Choose one prompt per day. Set aside 5–10 minutes. Write without editing — the goal is reflection, not polish. After 30 days, review what you’ve written. Patterns in what you notice are often patterns in who you are as a leader.

Week 1: Noticing People

Day 1: Who on your team did something today that went unacknowledged? What specifically did they do?

Day 2: Think of someone you work with whose contribution is often invisible because they make things look easy. What would actually be harder without them?

Day 3: Recall a conversation today that left you more energized than when it started. Who was in it? What made it good?

Day 4: Who on your team is growing right now in ways you haven’t fully acknowledged, even internally? What are you observing?

Day 5: Think of someone outside your immediate team — a peer, a partner, an internal client — whose work makes your work possible. What do they do?

Day 6: Who said something true today that was hard to say? What did you appreciate about how they said it?

Day 7: Week reflection: Who has appeared most in your journal this week? What does that tell you about where your appreciation is — and where there might be a gap?

Week 2: Noticing Moments

Day 8: Describe one moment from today when the work felt meaningful. What was happening? Who was involved?

Day 9: When did someone on your team operate above the level of their role today or this week? What did you observe?

Day 10: What decision was made well recently — either by you or someone else? What made it good?

Day 11: Describe a meeting or conversation from the past week that actually accomplished something. What worked about it?

Day 12: What problem got solved this week without your direct involvement? Who solved it, and how?

Day 13: Recall a moment when your team’s culture showed up in action — not as a value on a wall, but as a behavior in a room. What happened?

Day 14: Week reflection: What patterns of strength are you seeing in your team that you haven’t named out loud? What’s one thing you could say to someone this week?

Week 3: Noticing Yourself

Day 15: What did you do today or this week that you’re genuinely proud of? (Not “what went well” — what are you proud of in yourself?)

Day 16: What skill or strength did you bring to a challenge recently that you don’t always give yourself credit for?

Day 17: Think of a time in the past year when you were at your best as a leader. What were the conditions? What were you doing differently?

Day 18: What have you learned about yourself from a mistake or failure recently? What are you grateful for in that lesson?

Day 19: Who is a model for you — someone whose leadership you admire and try to embody? What specifically do you learn from watching them?

Day 20: What aspect of your current role, team, or organization do you find genuinely meaningful? Why?

Day 21: Week reflection: Where have you been hardest on yourself as a leader? What would appreciating your own strengths look like in that area?

Week 4: Noticing the Bigger Picture

Day 22: What’s one thing about the culture of your team that you’d be proud to have as a legacy — something you helped create or protect?

Day 23: Think of an organization or team you’ve been part of in the past that shaped you. What are you grateful for from that experience?

Day 24: Who gave you a chance you might not have given yourself — early in your career, or more recently? What did they see in you?

Day 25: What work that you’ve done — or that your team has done — has created value that ripples beyond the organization? What are you proud to have contributed?

Day 26: What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received? Who gave it, and what made it land?

Day 27: If you could write a letter of appreciation to one person who shaped your career, who would it be? What would you most want to say?

Day 28: Synthesis: What are the three most significant things you’ve noticed across this month of journaling? What patterns, people, or moments keep surfacing?

Bonus Prompts: For Harder Seasons

Use these when the practice of gratitude feels difficult — during conflict, transition, or uncertainty.

What is one thing, even small, that is working right now?
Who is showing up with integrity in a difficult situation? What are they doing?
What challenge you’re currently facing will you likely be grateful you went through — eventually?
What would it mean to appreciate this difficulty for what it’s teaching rather than resenting it for what it’s costing?
Who is beside you in this? What do you value about having them there?

After 30 Days

Review your entries and ask:

Whose name appears most often? Have you told them what you’ve noticed?
What strengths of your team have become clearer? Have you named them?
What conditions are present when things go well? Can you create more of them?
What aspect of your own leadership do you see more clearly?

The journal is a mirror. Use what it shows you.