Mastering the Moments: How to Seize the Appreciation Advantage (Part 1)

Seizing The Appreciation Advantage is a result of learning to Master the Moments. And, it’s our theme this month for the IGFY Newsletter.?

If you need to refresh your memory about The Appreciation Advantage and why you should aim to take advantage of it, please read last week's edition.

What’s involved in Mastering Moments? And how do you do it?

Both are great questions that we’ll explore in a moment. However, before you can master the moments, you must first become aware that moments exist…and why moments matter.?

Developing a Moment Mentality

A moment occurs when, amidst the routine of everyday life, work, or play, someone engages in an activity with such elevated focus, fervor, or flair that an otherwise ordinary event is suddenly transformed into something extraordinary.?

These moments of outstanding effort, creativity, or kindness often happen daily in your work and world. People are amazing! The people on your team are amazing! They make magical moments regularly.?

The real issue is not whether these moments happen in your organization. It’s when these moments happen, how aware of them are you??

How Do YOU Respond to Moments?

When such moments arise, our responses typically fall into one of three categories: MISS, MINIMIZE, or MAGNIFY.

MISSING MOMENTS

In today’s fast-paced world, many leaders and individuals miss these moments completely. Moments may happen daily, but they are completely unaware.

Before we rush to harsh judgment about these people, let’s recognize, it's not entirely their fault.?

Let's be honest, the truth is, at one time or another, most of us miss out on moments. And why? Because we are busy, preoccupied, and distracted.

Why Are YOU Missing Moments?

1. Busy: In our hyper-productive society, being busy has become a badge of honor. We frequently hear about how busy everyone is. But when you're constantly busy, you often fail to notice the people around you doing extraordinary things with exceptional focus, fervor, or flair. In other words, you miss the moments.
2. Preoccupied: When your mind feels like a three-ring circus with no ringmaster anywhere around, there's no one to direct your attention. More often than not, pressing demands and endless to-do lists preoccupy you, drawing our focus away from recognizing these magical moments as they happen.
3. Distracted: Endless notifications, pings, dings, and rings compete for your attention. Face it. Billions of dollars are invested annually to make you think those pings, dings, and rings are vitally important. When you're inundated with distractions, being present in-the-moment is challenging, which causes you to overlook those extraordinary acts by your colleagues or team members.

MINIMIZING MOMENTS

As bad as it is to miss the moments, more damage is done when you minimize the moments. After all, to minimize it, you first had to see that a magical moment occurred.?

Maybe it’s because you assume excellence is the norm and your team always goes above and beyond. Therefore, singling one person out for going above and beyond doesn’t seem fair…so you keep quiet!

What if you don't feel at ease when providing specific acknowledgment and recognition to key contributors? So, instead of shining the spotlight on the key contributors, you extend thanks to the whole team for the contribution of a few.?

You may believe that you have valid justifications for minimizing moments.

Let me assure you, if you persist in minimizing them, they will cease to happen.

MAGNIFYING MOMENTS

To create a culture of appreciation and truly seize The Appreciation Advantage, you must learn to magnify these moments. This means that you need to actively see and recognize the moments that matter.

Learning to See Moments

1. Be Present: Train yourself to be fully present in your interactions. Perhaps you PAUSE for a moment to recenter your thoughts and direct your attention on the people you are meeting with. When engaged with someone or your team, give them your full attention, free from distractions. Put away your phone. Disable all notifications. When you are with your people…be fully present. Give them your undivided attention.
2. Be Aware: Develop awareness of others' contributions. In a conversation last week, Lucinda Carney shared a truly insightful perspective. You no longer need to impress people with your leadership. Instead, be impressed with the amazing things they do, the contributions they make.? Recognize that extraordinary efforts often happen in seemingly ordinary moments. Train your mind to notice the exceptional within the routine.
3. Systematize Recognition: Design, architect, or engineer systems so that magnificent moments are consistently acknowledged. In your team meetings, ask people to shine a light on the extraordinary efforts and contributions of others. If you’re a senior leader, develop a habit of asking the people on your team, what are the extraordinary efforts that would be awesome for me to recognize and celebrate?

To Magnify Moments, make being present and aware your personal priority. Make it a focus of your conversations and team meetings. Soon, others will know that mastering moments matters!? If you need help, get it. Create systems and processes so you SEE the MOMENTS that MATTER.??

You have to SEE THE MOMENT before you can SEIZE THE MOMENT.

That’s where we’ll resume next week.?

TODAY’S INVITATION TO ACTION

Think back over the last week, who is someone who went above and beyond? Got a name??

Pause now and send them a message or write them a note as Julienne B. Ryan so eloquently put it. That's a giant step towards Mastering the Moments.

We’re doing that every day in July as part of Don’t Wait To Thank.?

Will YOU join us? When YOU SEE someone being or doing something remarkable…thank them for it.?

Let them know YOU SEE THEM and appreciate them for their amazing contributions.?We’ll dig deeper into this topic next week. For now, keep noticing the awesome people you are surrounded by…and choose at least one person every day and express your gratitude TO them.?

If this topic is really resonating with you…start talking to your team about the systems you could put in place to Master More Moments! You will be well on your way to Seizing The Appreciation Advantage.?

It's not too late to join us for Don't Wait To Thank.

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We're on a quest to get as many people expressing the gratitude they have FOR others TO them. We need your help!