When one has a Vitamin D deficiency, they are advised to soak up the sun, whereas a Vitamin E deficiency calls for you to load up on spinach and almonds. But what does one do in the case of a deficiency of Vitamin G, by which we mean gratitude? Pick up Prashant Jain's one-month-old book, of course, especially if you are not sure if you even suffer from this deficiency. "Lack of a grateful attitude is like having body odour or snoring — others notice it, but you don't. People who are grateful radiate happiness and positivity," and that's who we want to be!
Titled Vitamin G: Gratitude, Jain tells us that this is not a traditional book about gratitude that will require you to spend too much time. "I don't expect the Twitter generation of today to give the book that much time and patience," laughs the Hyderabadi, who comes from a typical Marwari Jain family. The book, which also chronicles the journey of how Jain went from bankrupt and suicidal to becoming a serial entrepreneur, has 42 chapters that give us activities to help us exercise the muscle that is gratitude.
To write Vitamin G: Gratitude, Jain took nine months and what is out on the shelves is the 64th draft of the book. "To keep the Aamir Khan in me at bay, I willed myself to write two crappy pages every day with no expectations. That's why there were so many drafts, but it was a fairly cathartic journey for me," he says. Jain's journey has indeed been full of ups and downs — from selling his start-up to SoftBank and JP Morgan at the age of 25 for a million dollars to being diagnosed with depression. Today, the former director of Ctrl S, a tech company, runs four other companies. Yet, at no point will you hear him say that he's a 'self-made’ man. "Being self-made is a myth. You are always supported by parents and others. Acknowledge the contribution of others and that itself is a step towards gratitude," he opines.
Even if you 'fake it till you make it' or what Jain calls ‘transactional thanking’, with some effort, we can move towards the ideal state of 'selfless gratitude’. One of the easiest ways to do this is by giving two minutes of your time to the moment you wake up, that moment when your body is not out of bed yet, and think of three things to be grateful for, advices Jain.
"Instead of looking at what's wrong and what can be improved, look at what's right and what can be appreciated," Jain urges. You can take the help of Vitamin G: Gratitude or other self-help books, "to act as your GPS or Gratitude Positioning System," quips Jain. But at the end, it is you who has to walk the path of gratitude.
To know more aout Jain, visit prashantjain.in/wp/
