The deepest principle of human
nature is a craving to be appreciated. If we are honest with ourselves, we all
want and need to feel valued for who we are and recognized for our
contributions and accomplishments. It’s important for us to know that we have
made a difference in someone’s life. The desire for a feeling of importance is
one of the chief distinguishing differences between mankind and the animals. If
our ancestors hadn’t had this flaming urge for a feeling of importance,
civilization would have been impossible. Without it, we should have been just
about like animals.
The Importance of Appreciation
Love is an important emotion,
it is one that is intense, one that is all consuming and one that does in some
cases comes naturally, whether it is the love between a family or the love of a
friend or a partner. But love is a feeling that we cannot necessarily have for
everyone, no matter how hard we try, unlike appreciation, which we can have for
everyone. We can appreciate everyone as a human being and we can treasure and
value them as an individual. We can appreciate that we are in good health, we
can appreciate teachers for motivating us, we can appreciate literature because
it gives us the ability to learn and to imagine, we can appreciate art, we can
appreciate doctors for saving the lives of our friends and family, we can
appreciate our senses, our legs for allowing us to walk, we can appreciate the
beauty of a rainbow, we can appreciate the kindness of strangers, we can
appreciate that we have a home to go back to at the end of each day, we can
appreciate that we have easy access to food and water, we can appreciate that
we have a bed to sleep in every night, we can appreciate that going through
tough times can make us stronger. My point being that these are not things that
we can necessarily “love”. They are things that we possibly take for granted
and things that we should recognise more for their purpose and their worth.
This is why I believe that appreciation gives us a different, more simple and
meaningful perspective on life, love can cause pain, love can cause wars but
appreciation is simple, it is something that we rarely give the importance or
acknowledgement it deserves. Ironic isn’t it? That we don’t even appreciate
appreciation.
Appreciation inspires respect,
it inspires gratitude and it makes us realise that there are good things in
life. Appreciation allows us to understand what life is like for others, an
appreciation for the hardship that other people go through, it unites us and
makes us people who are more capable of kindness because it allows us to
understand worth, to have empathy. Appreciation encourages us to open our eyes
to the world and I can honestly say that it makes life so much more worth
living, from appreciation we obtain joy and happiness, because we let go of
expectation and we are thankful for our own life, however it may differ to what
we would expect our lives to be like.
Teaching what love is to a 5
year old can prove to be slightly difficult, the overwhelming enormity and
meaning of the intense and deep emotion can be too much for a young child to
grasp, just as it can for a teenager or adult. Teaching a 5 year old what
appreciation is however, is much easier, to teach them that when they are
grateful or thankful for something, that when someone has gone out of there way
to do something for them, when someone has made life better for them, there are
ways of showing appreciation, in my
opinion, this a much more simple concept that is much easier to apply to
humanity than love.
Practice Genuine Appreciation
“I’ve learned that people will
forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never
forget how you made them feel.”
Appreciation helps people
acknowledge the goodness in their lives and connects them to something larger
than themselves — whether to other people or a higher power.
Being appreciative starts with
yourself. When you are grateful for who you are and what you have, it’s easier
to recognize and acknowledge other people’s goodness. Give appreciation with
respect and kindness.
Why Appreciation Will Help You
See More Opportunities in Life
When you stop judging events
or people, you can learn from them.
Life is an experience from
which you learn and grow. Appreciate people and things for what they are.
If a person takes the time to
express their heart-felt appreciation for something we have done, it boosts our
spirit, passion, and purpose. It builds
our self-confidence, self-esteem and our entire self-image. It gives us energy
and motivation to work harder and do more.
Our professional success is
based in large part on how successful we are at building networks and
interacting with our coworkers or management or employees. By learning to
appreciate others, we can create stronger professional networks and advance in
our careers.
1. It doesn’t take much to
make others feel important. Gratitude does not have to be a
big, showy thing. You should not throw others a parade or buy them flowers. It
can be expressed through small but meaningful gestures that help others feel
big.
Say that you are grateful and
mention something specific that they did. Try to notice the efforts others have
put into a task. When you feel satisfied or happy with something, say it!
Spreading the goodwill around
takes only a couple of minutes of effort, but the effects can ripple and become
huge.
2. Small gestures of
appreciation can make someone’s day. An amazing thing about
gratitude is that it costs us nothing and just requires a small effort. But
that small effort can ripple through and really turn someone’s day around.
A gesture of appreciation can
make other people’s day brighter and happier, so, in turn, they might be more
inclined to do the same for another person.
Also, it will make your day
happier too! Showing gratitude is as rewarding as receiving it.
3. Recognize the value of the
people in your life. It’s easy to take things for granted, and even
easier to take people for granted. We often neglect our relationships with the
people closest to us because we think they will always be there or because we
are so used to them, we stop seeing their value.
Instead, you should remind
yourself periodically of how amazing the people around you are, of everything
they have done for you, and that you definitely have reasons to be grateful for
those around you.
4. You create a positive
environment through gratitude. Showing gratitude to those
around you creates a positive atmosphere. It is something that makes people
happier and more inclined to pass it on, so your small gesture of appreciation
ripples through for more positivity.
When you show, you appreciate
people around you, the environment changes. It becomes more pleasant to work
there, live there, or do other things because it changes the culture around
you. It makes the world a better place to live in.
When you commit to
appreciation, your life becomes richer, full of color, and more satisfying. You
are likely to find yourself much happier than you used to be, and you’ll see
great improvements in your relationships.
5. Your mindset changes. Actively
look for the great work, brilliant ideas, and extra effort given by your
coworkers and teams. When you change your mindset to look for the good instead
of the bad in the people around you, you begin to notice just how fantastic
they are. One of the laws of the universe states that what you give you get in
return. It costs little or nothing and it almost always follows suit that they
will demonstrate their gratitude for what you do.
6. Your mood improves.
Psychologists have long touted how our mood and daily outlooks change when we
focus on positive things rather than negative. In fact, our friend Michael “Dr.
Woody” Woodward, PhD suggests that simply removing negative words from your
vocabulary can have a tremendous effect on your mood. Imagine the impact using
positive words to appreciate another person could have on your mood.
7. You engage at a higher
level. While the whole corporate world is frantically trying to
figure out how to engage employees, not many of us are asking how to further
increase our own engagement. We should. A recent study shows that when
employees (at any level) give recognition, their engagement score increases by
26%. That’s a sizable increase considering how easy and enjoyable it is to
recognize someone at the office.
8. Your ability to innovate
improves. While you may not see your role as an innovator, your
leaders are trying to figure out how to get you to bring your brilliance to
work — to improve a product or process, discover ways to cut expenses, and
generate new ideas. Again, research shows that employees (at any level) who
recognize their team members experience a 33% increase in innovation.
9. You
build trust in relationships. Even the neuroscientists are proving that
recognition builds trust. One of the most important things we will have in life
is the relationships with other people. Some need only family; some only want a
romantic partner, and others might desire a large social circle, but everybody
needs at least one person with whom they have a deep relationship, who supports
them, and who can be counted upon.
However, relationships are not
like material things. We can’t just buy a friend and have them. We need to cultivate
that relationship and make a continued effort to support it, and nothing helps
more than learning to appreciate the people around us. This is also true
professionally.
10. It will increase your
value to the market. When you show your appreciation to others,
their respect for you will grow and so will your influence as a leader. In
today’s world people have choices. They absolutely prefer to work with people
they like and trust and who show an interest in them.
11. You’ll actually want to
stay longer. While it would make logical sense that those
of us who feel appreciated stay with an organization longer, research from a
global study shows we stay quite a bit longer. In fact, companies that that
recognize their people for a years of service anniversary keep employees an
average of two years longer than companies that don’t. And while that’s
impressive, as you celebrate the service anniversaries of teammates you build a
bond as if they’re your family.
12. You increase your
effectiveness. Does giving recognition have a direct impact
on results? You better believe it. Research shows that employees (at any level)
who give recognition experience a 22% increase in work results.
13. You smile more…and
apparently cry more. Admittedly, the two of us aren’t necessarily role models
when it comes to sharing emotion. But we have to say, there’s something
intrinsically nice, and good, about recognition and appreciation that just
screams, “it’s the right thing to do.” People bring their heart and souls to
work. We’ve seen the emotional impact appreciation has on people — often
decades after the recognition moment happened. So give it a try. Appreciate,
and you’ll inspire some smiles and tears.
14. It’s a free form of
currency. People will do more for recognition than they will for
money. If you are in a leadership position, remember that people will work
harder and do more if they know they will be recognized for their
accomplishments. Show them you care and
they will be loyal to you, even if better opportunities come their way.
15. You inspire greatness in
others. We all would love to be the person who inspires someone
else. It turns out it’s not that difficult when you actively give recognition.
A study by the O.C. Tanner Institute shows that 88% of employees who receive
recognition feel inspired to do great work. Why wouldn’t they? They just got
praised for a job well done.
16. You create a story with a
future. Whether you’re a manager or an employee, giving
recognition tells the recipient, and all of the people witnessing the
recognition moment, what kind of work you admire. And, when everyone is clear
about what great work looks like to you, they’re likely to produce more of it
for you and with you. In fact, they’ll likely even try to do it better than the
last time.
Six Tips to Show Appreciation
1. Be genuine about your
praise and don’t expect anything in return for being nice.
2. Be very specific with your
words and use the person’s name whenever possible. This makes it more
meaningful. For example, “Bill, thanks for making us feel so welcome when we
arrived at the hotel. It was the perfect start to our vacation.”
3. Demonstrating eye contact
and positive body language goes hand in hand with the words you choose.
4. Think of special ways to
show your gratitude. For example, buy flowers or do something special for your
spouse that you know he or she would love. You don’t have to spend a lot of
money for the thank-you to have value.
5. Send a hand written thank
you card or note of appreciation. Most
people don’t take the time to do this simple act.
6. If the praise or
appreciation relates to a specific act or circumstance, give it as soon after
the event as possible to have the most impact.
Although recognition and appreciation often get talked about from only the recipient’s viewpoint, there are plenty of powerful benefits to the giver as well. Give it a go, and you might just inspire someone to greatness.
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Nice expression Ishan...worth a read....look forward to your next.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
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