Are You Appreciative?

I’m not asking if you feel gratitude. I’m asking if you express gratitude–the real, genuine, and authentic kind of appreciation.

We all want to know we are appreciated.

When we show appreciation to others two really cool things happen. One, happiness increases for the person we express our gratitude to. That’s probably not surprising, is it?. But here’s number two … our own happiness increases too. Seriously, how cool is that?!??I’m not even making this up. Dr. Martin Seligman, sometimes referred to as the father of positive psychology, found this to be true in an ?experiment he did. He had students write and personally deliver letters of gratitude. The result? An increase in happiness scores for both the giver and the receiver.

Oh, and how else do I know that gratitude makes a difference? When I asked over 800 working professionals what makes them want to work with or for someone, the number one characteristic was showing appreciation. It’s called Gratitude G Factor, and it makes a big difference in the workplace.

Need ideas to get you started on upping your happiness and others’ happiness? Here you go.

• Choose someone to write a handwritten note of thanks and then personally deliver it (or email if you need to).
• Let someone know how their help contributed to your success.
• Share with your boss one thing they have done to support you.
• Tell the person you most enjoy working with the reason why you enjoy working with them.
• Email a thank you to someone and copy their boss.
• Encourage a coworker to take on a new task and explain why you believe they will be successful.
• Buy someone their favorite treat.

Enjoy the happiness!