Appreciate appreciation!

The miracles of appreciation!

Couple of days back, I heard a young lady (Kiran Lalwani) at an event and was particularly touched with one statement in her speech - “It takes courage to be thankful, to say ‘thank you’! Meaningful and intense.

Each one of us loves appreciation, from an 8 year old to a 80 year old. Have we met even one person in our lives who would say - “Please do not appreciate me.” I can safely assume, none. Appreciation literally gives one wings to fly, to dream, to achieve! The question is - does the act of appreciating come naturally to us? If not, are we avoiding it or are we not conscious enough to appreciate?

Few thoughts on appreciation that came to my mind after hearing that lady:

Forum

Appreciation can be both, one on one, as also in an open forum. People performing well love to be appreciated, more so, openly. It acts as a big morale booster. Let us be clear in our appreciation, communicate the exact reason for the appreciation. It also helps others learn out of it.

Reason

The main reason why one should be appreciated is that the person has done something good (or well or phenomenal) and because you have felt good about it from the bottom of your heart. Any small gesture from someone could have taken a lot of efforts which we cannot measure. That makes it all the more important to appreciate the effort as well (and not only the result). For that, we first need to observe the good and learn to find the positives of it. Only then will we be in a position to appreciate, else we remain indifferent. The worst thing to do would be to appreciate someone only because it is a part of our KRA. Let us not appreciate someone only because it is our official responsibility, let us do it to remind ourselves that we are all humans and that positive atmosphere is all that is needed.

Timing

Appreciation should be immediate. We do not need to wait for passage of time. Any good work, if appreciated immediately, has a much larger and long-term impact than when it is given after few weeks or months. Let us not wait for people to come to us seeking for appreciation. Best performers seldom ask for it, all the more a reason for us to take a step forward in appreciating the team. Appreciations are not planned, they are natural, they are without inhibitions.

Age / Position no bar

Appreciate people who do good, irrespective of their age or designation. They may be people above or below our designation or could be our peers. Their roles / designations / age should not stop us from appreciating them. We always learn, and we learn different things from each person. In our daily routine, if we learn something (technical / non-technical) from someone, we must openly appreciate. As she said “It takes courage to be thankful”! By thanking the deserving, we do not undermine ourselves but develop a sense of pride in having such beautiful people around us.

Thank those with thankless roles

While this may be the last part in this write-up, it is definitely not the least important. It is important to take out time to think about people we meet in our daily lives. A majority of them would be playing thankless roles (teachers / traffic police / office support team / sweepers, etc.). Take time to thank them for making our life beautiful and structured. Thank them for helping us save time and focus on our key roles / areas allotted to us.

?It is fascinating how one statement in an event can make you think about it for hours and days! I must appreciate that lady for bringing this out and letting me take time out to pen this down! ??