When was the last time you told someone that you appreciated something that they did for you?

This is a quintessential way to create value.  Other than investing a little time, we incur no cost to express appreciation, which not only is likely to make others feel good but also makes us feel good to make others feel good.

Recently, I increased my appreciation of the value of giving appreciation.  I have been going through some of my old papers, photos, and stuff, which prompted me to remember people who helped me and to let them know that I appreciated them.  This has been extremely gratifying both for them and for me.

In our social world, everyone relies on others to help move forward in life.  This may be spouses, partners, parents, siblings, other relatives, teachers, mentors, coaches, counselors, clergy, colleagues, supervisors, friends, and even people who chanced to cross our paths at particular moments.  Don’t forget students, children, and pets.  (I don’t mean to imply false equivalence – obviously pets are much more important.)

These are extremely vexing times in our world, and individually, we cannot fix the big looming problems.  But we can make things a little better by letting people know that we really appreciate them and what they have done for us.

Would you like to create some easy value today (or tomorrow or the day after)?  Tell someone what they mean to you.  Or write an appreciation that I can post on the blog.  Why wait to create this value?