On Being More Appreciative

Have you ever written a testimonial for someone?  Or Have you ever Endorsed someone on LinkedIn?  If you have then it is very nice of you and I want to thank you for doing so for whomever you did.  I realized that in our daily lives we do a poor job appreciating people whom we meet everyday.  I don't blame anybody but try to write few paragraphs about somebody.  And it will not be so easy unless you are doing on a daily basis.  Now try same thing with some other person and some another person.  It is really hard to come up with different expressive words every time reflecting a person's identity.  If you want to experiment then try to ask somebody to tell a few words about some person X.  See how long it takes before they stop.  Ask same thing about person Y.

As a leader it is very important to know key strengths and weaknesses of your team.  And knowing is also not enough, expressing is also crucial.  It boosts morale of the whole team.  If you are meeting a team or someone who is walking in the lobby then just imagine some keywords floating above their head (just like Tom-Jerry Cartoon).  And you realize how much valuable they are and you will become more appreciative.  Just to tell somebody that "You are doing an amazing job" is just a blow-away kinda feeling for the receiver.

This takes a good understanding about people.  You have to be genuinely interested in people around you.  As human beings we do things that are visually compelling and obvious to us.  We will take action on things we see.  Try to imagine some "?" marks over people's head whom you don't know.  And try to know more about them by eliminating those "?" marks with keywords specific to them.  Know as much as you can and be interested by asking counter questions.

If you have to lead a team then you will have to spend a lot of time building morale.  You might have to rally for them.  Fight for them.  Motivate them.  This could be done by being more appreciative in our daily lives.  Try to come up with at least 5 "smile bringing" key words for every person on your team.  Even if you don't do anything these words will come up in your conversations with other people.  Best feelings are those which are passed on by someone else.  

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