The Basic Basics: Thank somebody.
You didn’t do it all yourself. You never did. Virtually nothing in this world is legitimately a solo endeavor.
Therefore, gratitude is appropriate, even when things don’t seem so great.
Your customers pay your salary. You don’t pay your mortgage or your gas bill or your grocery bill — your customers do. Thank them. Make a habit of it.
Your co-workers cover for you. They inspire you and enable you. (Yes, sometimes they also infuriate you, but them’s the breaks when you’re dealing with humans. By the way, you sometimes infuriate them, too.) Make a habit not just of saying you’re grateful for what they do, but showing it.
Family? Friends? Do I need to go on?
This second day of 2009 is the perfect time to start this habit.
Be brassy about expressing gratitude. Approach or embrace embarrassment, if need be, but make sure you let people know you’re thankful for them and what they do.
(Next up on my to-do list: a dozen thank-yous — by e-mail, in person, on the phone.)
Go tell them.
[Inspiration for this post from Tom Peters.]
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For more entries in this series, see The Basic Basics — an Omnibus.
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Thank-you card by Fern R.
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Tim:
We met for coffee this morning to help out a mutual friend, but I personally took away a few helpful nuggets from you during that conversation. In fact, I’m putting one of them into action today by creating a “hustle meter” (you also blogged about this in late October) to chart my outreach efforts. So, I’m giving thanks to YOU for your insight.
Happy New Year!
Bryan | @BryanPerson
You’re very kind, Bryan!
[...] good friend. Some of his recent posts that I enjoyed: What To Do When Your Friends Are Laid Off, The Basic Basics: Thank Someone and Committ to Having Better Problems in 2009. You can also follow him on Twitter; he is [...]