By Kevin M

Turkey and all the trimmings. Football games. Family reunions. The official beginning of the Christmas season. The Macy’s parade. That’s what Thanksgiving is all about, right?

Not quite. Thanksgiving, first and foremost, is about giving thanks. In the secular, post modern, science-driven world we live in, that part gets lost in all the other festivities. But all of us have much to be thankful for, and usually much more than we think.

Do you spend time thinking about what it is you’re thankful for this time of year? If you don’t, you should. I’ll even lead off by listing what it is I’m thankful for. If you give it some thought, you’ll probably find yourself being thankful for many of the same things. Some are deeper than others, some are on the light side, but I’m thankful for them all. And if I gave it more thought, I’m sure I could easily double the list.

1) Faith. The older I get the more I come to realize that faith in God is not only a living, breathing aspect of the believer’s life, but it’s also a full blown miracle. Not nearly everyone has it, and everything in the physical and organizational worlds argue against it. It’s a blessing of the highest order.

2) My marriage. 18 years and going strong! With so many marriages either blowing up or teetering on the edge, ours seems to grow no matter the outside stresses. In a world of perpetual stresses and strains, our marriage is like an island hideaway.

3) My kids. Having kids is stressful, no doubt, and I completely understand why anyone would decide not to have them. But for my wife and I, our two kids add a richness to our lives that grows as they grow.

4) Extended family. In ancient times, a large extended family was considered a kind of wealth; in today’s disconnected world it’s nothing less. I have my mom, three sisters, two sisters-in-law, seven brothers-in-law and many nieces and nephews, nearly all of whom I see on a regular basis. Then there are aunts, uncles and cousins. If that isn’t a blessing I don’t know what is.

5) Friends. Most men are lucky to have one person who they can call a best friend—I have at least four and I’d trust each with my life. We have a family that we’ve been friends with for longer than we’ve been married, and they’re as close to us as any blood-related family we have. Does it get any better than this?

We tend to worry about problems we face, but one of the things I’m thankful for are the bad things that never happened to me. Here are three of the biggest:

6) I’ve never been homeless or hungry. Sounds too ordinary, right? But with all the mistakes I’ve made in my life, it’s never been so bad that I haven’t had a place to sleep or a meal to eat. I’m thankful for that in a world where millions of people will experience both this very night.

7) I’ve never been in jail or prison. Some of us might ignore this one under the “I’m too good a person” doctrine. But right now in America, more than 2 million people are incarcerated, more than 7 million are being “supervised by the criminal justice system” (in prison, on parole, or on probation), and more than 65 million people have previous criminal convictions of one sort or another. It’s far more common than most of us think, so yes, I count my blessings to not be among them.

8 ) I’ve never been called to fight in a war. We can agree or disagree that a war is just or not, but the men and women who fight on the front lines are true hero’s and heroine’s. I don’t know that I could rise to that level, and I’m thankful that I’ve never been called and put to the test. Most times, I think I’d fail it.

And the rest…

9) For good health. Somehow we never fully appreciate health until it’s gone—I prefer not to wait. Though I do have high blood pressure, I have no chronic diseases, have had no major surgeries and never even broken a bone. A major health event is a game stopper—I’ll be thankful until that event comes, and even more thankful if it doesn’t.

10) For work. Like health, we never appreciate it until it’s gone. Though we may pine for early retirement or incredible riches, work is a blessing. It’s both my contribution to- and my connection with- the world. If I have work it means I’m getting paid, and I’m thankful for both.

11) For this blog. Three years ago I left the mortgage business, middle-aged and washed up. How do you start over when you’ve spent years working in the same business and it’s mostly not there anymore? Many people in that and other industries that have been casualties of the Great Recession are still trying to work that out. This blog has been the answer for me. It’s the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done, and now it’s paying the bills. I still work at other things here and there, but the blog is now my official career, “my thing” in life. I’m keenly aware that precious few people ever make a living doing work they love.

12) For the cyber friends who helped make my blogging career possible. Coming out of the mortgage business, I had no skills that qualified me to run an income generating blog. I could write, but I’d never written blog posts. And on the technical and marketing sides of the business, I was an absolute zero. There are no schools that teach you how to be a blogger, and it’s largely a new industry at that. But if you find the right people, you’ll learn all you need to. I’m thankful for the many people—past and present—who have made this journey possible for little, old me. I only hope that I can give back even some of what’s been freely shared with me.

13) For the world wide web. I’m especially thankful because it’s the medium in which I make my living. But I’m also thankful for a source of news, information, opinions and people that even presidents, kings and emperors didn’t have access to just 50 years ago.

14) For high school football games. Since my son joined the marching band (he’s a drummer) at his high school four years ago, we’ve been attending Friday night football games for the past four years. I haven’t done that since I was in high school, but there’s a timeless feeling to sitting at a game played outside on a crisp fall evening. Time stands still and your cares disappear for a few hours—that’s something to be thankful for.

15) For Youtube. I’m a Youtube junkie—there I said it. I can listen to any kind of music I like, as many times as I like, and I can even do it while I’m working. It’s made to order for us in the work-at-home crowd.

16) For Starbucks. For the record, I hate their coffee, but I love the atmosphere their coffee shops provide. I’m not a bar person—too much noise, too many TVs (now that they’re all “sports bars”) and too much potential for run-ins with the law. Coffee shops are the perfect alternative if you want to get together with people and really connect. Starbucks has that down to a science.

17) For central air conditioning. I live in Georgia—any questions?

18) For sunsets. Not only are they beautiful, but they remind me that I’m only a small speck in the universe. And that just as the sun sets on this day, so it will one day set for the last time on my life. There’s no better reminder of carpe diem–seize the day.

19) For home cooked meals. Now that eating in restaurants has become the new normal, a good meal cooked at home is the true novelty. In my house, we eat most meals at home, but there’s nothing better than sharing a home cooked meal with family and friends. It never gets old.

20) For Thanksgiving. No presents to buy, no decorations to hang, no dressing up and banging on the neighbors doors looking for candy—we just sit at home, give thanks and eat. And since I’m giving thanks here, all that’s left to do is eat! Perfect.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

The post below is a reprint of an article written by Trent Hamm of TheSimpleDollar.com.

Most career advice you receive focuses on the big picture: how to get ahead, how to “win”,and such things that are on a much larger scale than the daily grind that most of us face. In fact, it is that day to day grind that pulls down many of us – we go to work, come home exhausted, and often feel as though we’re just spinning our wheels.

If you want to get ahead in your career and in your life, you need to start small and look at the immediate things you can do to help out your situation. If you’re sitting out there at your desk, tiredly wondering if there’s something better that you can be doing with your life, start with these fifteen tips that you can start executing immediately that will lead you down a path towards a better career.

Make a list of all of the things you did today/this week/this month to help your organization, and file them away.
Whenever you have a few spare moments, make a list of all of the things you are actually doing at work. Date them and provide specific examples. When you’ve made this list, drop it in a folder and let it sit there until your next performance review – or the next time you ask for a raise or a promotion. I do this regularly, which has allowed me to build up extensive positive documentation about my career.

Send a thank-you note
If you’ve recently been assisted in your career or personal development by someone, spend a few moments and send that person a handwritten thank you note. The respect, kindness, and personal touch of a handwritten thank you creates an indelible positive mark in your favor in the recipient’s mind, which can do nothing but help you out in the long run.

Work on your writing skills
For me, The Simple Dollar is actually an active part of improving my own writing. Starting a blog related to a work-related topic that interests you is a good way to practice your skills. Don’t be lazy with it, though; focus on writing strong material that will engage others, because without it, you’re not really improving your skills at all, merely regurgitating facts.

Design some classy business cards for you
I have a small pile of business cards that are just for me (actually, they’re for The Simple Dollar), not for any firm I represent or work for or anything else. I drop these regularly, as envelope enclosures and in face-to-face opportunities. These cards are a reflection of me and what I wish to represent to people, and by getting quality ones, I create a positive impression on the recipients. Don’t go for the office store perforated ones, either; get them professionally done and in a high quality.

Send a quick contact email
Got any professional contacts that you haven’t touched base with recently? Send them an email letting them know what you’re up to – and ask them what they’re up to. By this, I don’t mean clients – I mean professional acquaintances in the same field as you (contacting clients should be a regular part of your workflow). A quick email to the people you met at conferences last year can be a very good thing, as you never know if they might have a great opportunity available that could really help you out.

Suggest a solution to a persistent workplace problem
This is especially true for smaller things, not necessarily big enterprise-wide issues. Are people always complaining about the printers? Spec out an additional printer and ship a proposal for a new printer by your boss. Workplace tensions between two people? Figure out how to most discreetly move them far apart from each other, write it up, and ship it off. The key is to make the solution as complete as possible, so that the boss can tell you saw a problem, looked into how to solve it, and came up with a solution on your own.

Pick up the phone and make a call
Keep in touch with what’s going on in the organization as a whole so you can be more informed when meetings occur. Pick up the phone and give someone else a call to see what you can learn, or take a stroll through different parts of the workplace to find out what others are up to. Don’t make a nuisance of yourself, but be aware of what is going on, how it can affect you, and how you might be able to leverage that to get ahead.

Work on your language skills
Are you a non-native speaker of the language in your workplace? Spend your spare time working on the finer points. I find that listening to audiobooks and podcasts is an incredible way to pick up on the nuances of a language given that you already know the basics. If you don’t know the basics, seek out some audio courses on that language and get started. For myself, I’ve found that a great way to pick up a foreign language is to read a translation of a work I’m already very familiar with, such as Harry Potter.

Make yourself more presentable
It always helps to have a clean, fresh impression. I keep a few hygiene products in my traveling bag at all times: underarm deodorant, toothpaste, a toothbrush, some mouthwash, some facial cleanser, a comb, and some cologne. I make sure to clean myself up at least once a day, and often twice a day, when I have a few free moments. That way, I look freshly scrubbed at the 3:30 PM meeting – and having just washed my face vigorously, I feel more awake.

Polish your resume
There’s never a bad time to give your resume a bit of a touch up. Make sure it has plenty of action words and documents specific results that you’ve produced. In fact, your personal work documentation is a great way to look for ideas to spiff up your resume.

Read something on topics you plan to be facing in the future in your career
Don’t waste your time reading PerezHilton (unless you work for People magazine or something); instead, find resources that are related to your job and focus on those. If you spend your spare time at work browsing the web, at least spend that time browsing items that can potentially further your career.

Prepare some comments in advance for your next meeting
Got a meeting later? Instead of dreading it, look at it as an opportunity to shine. Look at what the meeting agenda is and prepare some notes and thoughts that you can present during them. If you’re going to sit through someone’s presentation, find out what it’s going to be about and do some preparatory legwork in advance so you can ask a few astute questions.

Work on your public speaking skills
This seems like it would be difficult to do right now, but it’s not. Merely listen to the work of great public speakers on the internet, burn yourself a CD or two of speeches that really inspire you, then play them in your car on the way home and practice speaking along with them. You’ll learn a great deal about how to enunciate words to get your points across and influence others.

Clean your work area
Not only will this create a better impression of you in the eyes of others, you may also come across important materials that you thought were missing or lost. It’s also good to start (or enhance) a document filing system when you do this, so you can quickly find materials.

Figure out where you want to be in five years – and create a plan for getting there
Spend some time visualizing where you want to be, then think about what it’s going to take to get there. From there, keep breaking down each piece in the process until the pieces are things you can do quickly – and start doing them. Every mountain climb is just a series of steps, after all.

The above post is a reprint of an article written by Trent Hamm of TheSimpleDollar.com.