I’ve been thinking a lot about appreciation lately. In the past, I’ve been focusing on how appreciated I am. I’d find myself blaming others for not appreciating me as much as they should but at the end of the day, I’ve realized that I can’t make anyone appreciate me. Either they do or they don’t.

I recently won a few awards for some work that I did and I truly felt appreciated but what impacted me the most is that I was so incredibly appreciative of the appreciation. I mean, I really felt good because someone appreciated me. They awarded the hard work my team and I had done and I found joy in it. I felt valued. I felt acknowledged. I felt justified in my career choice.

In the greater scheme of things, these awards will have little or no long term impact on my life. I’m not going to get a raise because of them. I’m not going to get more time off because of them. I’m not going to get a better job because of them. Externally, the only impact they will have is that a few people will congratulate me because of them and they will look nice on a shelf.

Internally, the impact is huge. Thoughts like, “Maybe I still got it” and, “I am good at this” go a long way toward pushing me forward in my career. Maybe it makes me work a little harder? Maybe it gives me the confidence to push the envelope farther than I would have. All I know is that it definitely helps push back the doubts for a little while.

Trade your expectation for appreciation
and the world changes for you.

~ Tony Robbins

We all have those doubts, don’t we? Especially those of us that work in the arts or run our own businesses. We’re worried about being successful. We’re nervous about losing everything. We’re scared half the time and cautiously optimistic the other half of the time.

I’ve spent some time thinking about how to alleviate those doubts and have come to the conclusion that in order to do so, all we can do is go through them. I mean, each doubt is just another hurdle and eventually, after you’ve cleared enough hurdles, you don’t really stress out about them as much.

Another way to alleviate those doubts is to feel appreciated, to be acknowledged. I know that we don’t have any control over how we are perceived by others but we do have control over how we perceive them. What I’m getting at is that even though we have no control over getting appreciation, we have total control over giving it.

When is the last time you’ve let someone you work with know how much you appreciate what they do? How about your spouse or a loved one? It’s so easy to see what someone does wrong and comment on it but when they do something right, praise often goes unsaid. I know I’m guilty of it and I need to do a better job appreciating others.

Knowing how good it makes me feel to be appreciated, I think I’m going to do as much as I can to let everyone around me know how much I appreciate them. A simple “thank you” or “I appreciate it” may end up making them feel great and if I have the power to do that then I should.

Too often we wake up with the weight of the world on our shoulders and feel like we are already behind. We’re exhausted before the day even starts. Why does every day have to feel like this? The fact of the matter is, it doesn’t. If you wake up every morning and at breakfast take just one minute to look at all the wondrous things in your life that you appreciate, then I believe you will have an incredible day. We are all so blessed but seem to forget our blessings. Our biggest blessing that we forget is the ability to bless the lives of others.

Try this: pick one day and make it the point of your day to help everyone you meet feel better about themselves. Make them feel your positive energy and spread the joy. You’ll be amazed to see how they perk up and smile and how much you improve their day but you’ll be more impressed by how being the conduit for positive energy makes you feel.

They say that you get what you give so give a lot of acknowledgment and you may get some back and that’s a cycle that can make us all feel better.