The next step on your practice of sharing appreciation journey is making time to share gratitude with friends, family and coworkers. I started small. This is an important point. Don’t expect to send 15 messages of appreciation today. Start small. Choose one or two people close to you. I started by sending my mom a quick email, thanking her for all her support. She’s been there for me throughout my life and she’s always willing to listen.
I then sent my wife a text telling her that I love her. I thanked someone in a private Facebook group that I’m a part of. They are always helping people and encouraging them to be positive. I sent a quick message to a client to let her know how much I appreciate her hard work. She is digging deep and applying the ideas that we talk about into her life. This isn’t easy to do and she was working hard and applying the ideas.
This 10 minute practice got me energized.
How can you block off just 10 minutes in your day to send out some appreciation to people?
If you need a little encouragement to set-up time here is some powerful research:
Dr. David Desteno, Professor at North-Eastern University, showed that when a team member feels proud of their work, they will work 30% longer on a project.
As a leader at work you can bring a boost of energy when they need it the most. It’s this tool that is usually underutilized. Most people don’t feel appreciated.
Research from O.C. Tanner Institute has shown that 79% of people quit their job because they don’t feel appreciated. That’s astounding! We need to do a better job of sharing our appreciation so people know that their work matters.
Try this…
Write down three people you appreciate and what you appreciate about them. I bet this sparks some motivation to send them a message.
If you procrastinate on actually sending the message or telling them over the phone or in person. That’s ok, you are building your appreciation muscle. We can build your appreciation muscle now and work on sending it later.
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