Mindfulness And The Value Of Saying Thank You

It is a busy world and you are bombarded by emails, texts, meeting requests and dozens of people claiming your time. It can be hard to make time to stop and think about the people who make your day a bit easier.  In fact when someone goes out of their way to make your goals easier to accomplish, their efforts can slip by unrecognised.

However, being mindful* and celebrating that assistance can trigger leadership action on your part, which helps to establish a virtuous cycle: good team work leads to positive client feedback; your leadership is shown to reflect an authentic understanding of what good work by colleagues looks like; your clients keep getting more examples of that good work.

(*Mark Williams and Danny Penman’s practical guide to ‘Mindfulness’, published in 2011, might be one for you to look at, if you want to learn more).

What Are Your Options For Showing Your Appreciation?

If you do recognise others’ contribution to your success there are so many options available to you, to show your appreciation, that choosing the right one can be a challenge.

• In the world beyond work I’m sure that a Father’s Day gift, or call, would go down well today.
• If you know someone who has made a contribution to civil society in the UK you can recommend them for an award in the Queen’s Birthday, or New Year’s Honours List.
• Simply remembering someone’s birthday or anniversary can make their day too. So can an unexpected card showing your appreciation for something they did (like the one in the illustration above, which I just got from a client. It definitely put a smile on my face).

Here Are Some Questions For Your Consideration

If making time for reflection, and being more mindful, is one of your health goals here are some questions you might want to consider:

• How often in your busy schedule do you pause, and think of ways to show your appreciation of others’ efforts?
• How far do you go beyond saying ‘thank you’ when you do so?
• How will you show your appreciation for outstanding service to a colleague, friend or family member in the next 7 days?

Good luck with the week ahead of you. Let me know how you get on (and do respond today or tomorrow to my recent post on equality and diversity).

Feel free to look at the further ideas relating to your work and life goals in the Archive section here, on Facebook and Google+ too.  Or if you are a Linkedin user you can visit View Roger Dennison’s profile