26th Oct, 2023
Sir Richard Branson said, “As a leader of people, you must be a great listener and a great motivator. People are no different than flowers. When you water flowers, they flourish. If you praise people, they flourish. And this is a critical attribute of a leader.”
The sweetest of all sounds is praise, Appreciation actually allows people to feel that they are needed and that their talents are valued.
I recently read a wonderful blog on the power of appreciation and gratitude.
Jonathan Pettit, the Director of Engineering at Qualcomm, was once asked, ‘What is the best advice your mother ever gave you?’
“I was about ten. My mom had just finished creating one of her amazing meals, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Later, as I was washing the dishes, my mom came up to me. “Sorry, dinner was so awful again,” she said.
I was shocked. “What? No, it was great, I loved it.”
“Really?” she said, with a mock surprise, “You always eat so quietly, never saying anything, you’ve never told me you liked my cooking, so I thought you hated it.”
“No, you’re the best cook I know.”
“Then you should tell me that,” she said. “Whenever someone does something nice for you, you should thank that person. If you don’t, then she might think she’s not appreciated & stop doing those nice things.”
Something clicked right then. From that day onward, I thanked everyone for literally everything. If anyone did something that even vaguely helped me, I thanked that person profusely. It became a habit, something I didn’t even think about, and that’s when the magic started happening.
People liked me more. They talked to me more, shared with me, and were more friendly.
In my first year of high school, during the final week, I came home and found a giant freeze (a kind of sweet frozen snack) waiting for me. “Thanks, mom!” I said instinctively.
“This isn’t from me, she said. “This is from your bus driver.” He had been driving that bus for years, and my siblings and I were the first people to ever thank him as we got dropped off. Those two simple words made a huge difference, so much so that he went out of his way to tell our mom and give us a present.”
That’s the power of appreciation. When you have it, all is right in the world, but when it’s missing life is empty.
My mom taught me many things, but taking two seconds to say ‘thank you’ every time, in any situation, was the best.”
In life, you would have met people who call themselves as good critics but have you ever met a person who says I am good at appreciating others?
Isn’t that a sad part of our society?
Let’s start appreciating people more frequently especially people who are close to us, because they are the ones, we take for granted and miss saying thanks to most often.
Communication, appreciation and understanding are the building blocks of any successful relationship
And more the gratitude and appreciation we show, the more we get to be grateful and appreciative of.
This festive season, Let’s say a word of appreciation to everyone we meet, praise everyone and stay blessed forever.