Joel Zuckerman may have made a name for himself as a golf writer, but it’s gratitude—not golf—that transformed his life. With over 300 handwritten letters under his belt, Joel has shifted from penning sports columns to advocating for expressive gratitude as a path to greater well-being. In this episode of The Daily Helping, Dr. Richard sits down with Joel to unpack his latest book, Gratitude Tiger, and the powerful personal journey that inspired it.
Joel’s story begins with a single letter written in 2013, inspired by a two-page chapter in Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. What started as an intellectual exercise quickly became an emotional revelation, and Joel found himself writing dozens, then hundreds, of gratitude letters to people who had shaped his life. Some recipients responded. Many didn’t. But that wasn’t the point. As Joel says, “Every time I write a letter, it makes me feel good.” His letters have become a practice not just in gratitude, but in personal healing and joy.
Gratitude Tiger offers a framework that’s part inspiration, part instruction manual. Joel shares how even a simple seven-word message—like “You are the cog in the machine”—can have a profound impact. And in one of the book’s most moving chapters, he explores how people facing unthinkable hardship—ALS, cancer, the loss of a child—still manage to find purpose and, yes, gratitude. Joel reminds us that we don’t need to be saints to be grateful. We just need to start.
The Biggest Helping: Today’s Most Important Takeaway
“You write letters of gratitude for yourself. I am not Mother Teresa. I'm not an altruist. The reason I've gone to the computer 280 times over 11 years is that every time I write a letter, it makes me feel good. Yes, the person who receives it will receive what I call collateral joy and be shocked and pleased and taken aback and surprised. But every letter I write is to make myself feel better.”
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