The Power of Thanks

This week's artticle

Hi, 

This time of year it is good to give thanks for all that you are thankful.  It feels pretty good to do so.  As this article (linked above and pasted below) shows an "attitude of gratitude" can go a long ways.  I am thankful to work at an organization with an "attitude of gratitude".  I am thankful my coworkers have put up with me for another year.  Enjoy the article below and go tell someone thank you!

Tap Into The Power Of Thanks: Six Ways To Improve Your Organization’s Morale, Motivation And Bottom Line by Todd Patkin, author of Finding Happiness

If you’re like most Americans, you’re gearing up to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with your loved ones. Chances are, you’ll probably participate in the annual ritual of listing the things for which you’re grateful. For most of us, that includes our family, our friends, our homes, and our possessions, for example. We might also list our jobs — after all, they allow us to put food on the table (and in this economy, we’re lucky to be drawing a steady paycheck in the first place). But does your organization inspire its employees to add anything else to that gratitude list? Are your people thankful for each other, for their leaders, and for the actual work they do? If not (and odds are, that’s the case), you’re also risking low morale, a negative culture, and less-than-optimal productivity.
If your organization hasn’t made a conscious effort to instill an ‘attitude of gratitude’ into your organization, you’re ignoring one of your most useful and lucrative tools. The good news is, there’s no better time than right now at Thanksgiving to start showing your employees or coworkers that you appreciate their efforts and care about them as individuals.
In so many organizations, employees go through their days assuming that their coworkers, and especially their bosses, don’t notice or appreciate all of the hard work that they do. And if that’s the way you feel, you will just go through the motions. You won’t have any true motivation or dedication, and your productivity will be mediocre at best.
In the midst of an already-tough economy, this is the absolute last thing you want for your organization. In a very real way, tapping into the spirit of Thanksgiving can tip the balance between success and growth or stagnation and failure.
Meaningful workplace gratitude is easiest to spark when it comes from leaders, but eventually that attitude will start to also spread between employees; from there, it’ll even trickle down to customers. All of that is great for business. In other words, gratitude is a motivator and catalyst for growth that money can’t buy.
If you’re a leader who wants to tap into the power of thanks (or even an employee who wants to start a grassroots movement), read on for some how-to tips:

Always say “thank you.”

If you have a job that allows you to twiddle your thumbs, you’re definitely in the minority. Most of us have a deskful of things that should have been done yesterday, and it’s easy to use the excuse that we don’t have time to hand out compliments and thanks like candy. But there’s no better way to use your time. By taking just thirty seconds longer to get back to your office, you have improved another person’s mood, day, and productivity level. You’ll also be making yourself more approachable and likeable, and over time your team will begin to relate to you more positively.
Always, always recognize it when someone does something well or does something nice for you. No one ever gets tired of hearing compliments about themselves; in fact, I have found that consistent and heartfelt recognition — when it is deserved, of course — is a better long-term motivator than money. Even something as small as ‘Thanks for always showing up on time’ can make someone feel great all day long.
I will say that as a leader, I was somewhat unique in my company because I was a big hugger. Once my people recognized this as a sign of my appreciation and esteem, they would start to worry if I saw them and didn’t end our conversation with a hug! Yes, it’s somewhat countercultural, but I encourage you to incorporate hugs or literal pats on the back into your own repertoire, assuming you can do so safely and comfortably. Lastly, remember to acknowledge it when someone else gives you a compliment or a thank you — it’s important for others to know that their gratitude is noticed and appreciated in order for it to continue.

Take intent into account.

The fact is, when you’re in a position to make a grand gesture of gratitude, your intentions may be consistently good… but your plans might not always be as successful as you’d hoped. I tried to show employees just how much I appreciated them; I came up with many show-the-love schemes. I’d send high achievers to sports games, highlight various employees in company newsletters, plan lavish company parties, and hold raffles, to name a few examples. Sometimes those plans were well received; other times they weren’t.
Inevitably, there will always be someone who says, ‘I wish the boss had sent me to a concert instead of to an NBA game,’ or, ‘Gosh, the food at this party tastes horrible. On a smaller scale, maybe no one eats the cookies you baked and set out in the break room. Remember, these people are selfishly (or maybe even unwittingly) overlooking the thank-you gesture’s intent. I’m bringing this up because you need to remember that despite negative feedback, showing gratitude is always the right thing… and the majority of non-complainers probably loved your gesture. And also, if the shoe is on the other foot and an expression of gratitude that’s aimed at you misses the mark, say thank you for the thought and go on about your day.

Start being more open.

In your average office, communication is far from completely open. No one wants to bug the boss unnecessarily or meddle in a coworker’s projects (unless, perhaps, that person’s intent is negative). This sort of “keep-to-yourself” culture doesn’t tend to foster total understanding or genuine gratitude. Think about it this way: If a leader is dissatisfied with an employee’s performance, that employee will probably sense that he’s not highly appreciated, and he’ll have no reason to work any harder than necessary. The leader’s bad opinion of the employee will continue and grow worse, further eroding the employee’s motivation. It’s a negative cycle, but it can be easily broken with a little openness and honesty.
If you’re a leader, constructively tell your people how they can improve their performances. If you’re a team member, be proactive about asking your coworkers and boss how you’re doing and how you can get better at your job. And no matter where you fall on your company’s hierarchy, learn how to receive constructive criticism. I have seen this at all levels — if you don’t accept advice and requests well, you’ll stop getting them and you’ll stop improving… and you’ll essentially be stuck right where you are. However, when everyone is committed to openness and to sparking growth, there will be more improvements, more success, and more opportunities to show genuine gratitude. Plus, showing others that you care enough to either help them or to improve yourself is a form of gratitude in and of itself, because you’re demonstrating that your team is worth the investment of your time, energy, and advice.

Learn to graciously accept thanks.

Yes, giving thanks is a very important building block when it comes to cultivating a gratitude culture in your organization. But it’s not the only one. How you respond to appreciation is also important. If you brush off compliments or ignore expressions of gratitude — even if it’s because you’d rather stay out of the spotlight — you’ll eventually stop hearing “thanks!” altogether, and you’ll be discouraging the person complimenting you from reaching out to others in the same way.
Showing gratitude to others in very lavish ways comes naturally to me, but accepting compliments for my own performance isn’t as easy. Over the years, though, I have learned that a response like ‘Oh, it was nothing’ tends to make the person thanking you feel foolish for giving you so much praise. This is especially true when a team member reaches out to a leader who’s higher in the organizational pecking order. Whenever someone thanks you or notices something positive about you, try to truly engage with them and let them know that their words have been meaningful.

Keep the gratitude going outside of your organization.

Once you notice that those two important words — thank you — are being uttered on a regular basis in your office, make an effort to extend them outside of the people on your payroll. Thank your customers or the people you serve for choosing your organization, and for trusting your team with their money, health, products, or publicity, to name a few examples. This is something that many clients don’t hear, so when they do, their loyalty to your company is strengthened.
Just as employees respond well to gratitude, so do customers and clients. A simple ‘Thank you for your business’ is easy and free, and there’s no excuse not to make use of this tool. You might also consider offering discounts, coupons, or promotions to show customer appreciation. Especially in a tough economy, it’s vital to let those whom you serve know how much they mean to you so that they don’t take their business elsewhere. I used to encourage my store managers to treat their clients like kings — I’d ask them to write thank-you notes after big sales and to send birthday cards to loyal customers, for example. Autopart International also frequently sent drivers with coolers full of sodas around to our accounts when it was especially warm out. One year, we even rented an ice cream truck to visit all of our best customers so that they could have a free frozen treat on a hot day. Over time, this strategy of appreciation brought us more business and it caused our customers to be less price-conscious.

Use gratitude to reinforce stellar performances.

No, your employees and/or coworkers are not pets. Remember, though, that just as a Labrador Retriever will learn to repeat or refrain from a behavior because she is given a treat, a worker will do the same thing based on his boss’s feedback. Using gratitude to shape your team’s habits and priorities can be every bit as valuable as training programs and industry conferences… at a fraction of the time and cost.
Whenever I saw an employee going out of her way to make sure that the product a client purchased was the best possible value, I thanked her for doing it. If a store manager made a mistake and came clean to me about it, I thanked him for that, too. Never forget that whatever you acknowledge positively will be repeated.

Throughout my years of leadership, I became more and more amazed by just how strong the power of thanks really is. Gratitude is an amazing motivator, it strengthens employee and customer loyalty, and it really can allow you to see a positive change in your company’s bottom line. And especially in today’s not-so-stellar economic environment, it’s extra-important to give your people something to be positive about and thankful for.

Todd Patkin grew up in Needham, Massachusetts. After graduating from Tufts University, he joined the family business and spent the next eighteen years helping to grow it to new heights. After it was purchased by Advance Auto Parts in 2005, he was free to focus on his main passions: philanthropy and giving back to the community, spending time with family and friends, and helping more people learn how to be happy. Todd lives with his wonderful wife, Yadira, their amazing son, Josh, and two great dogs, Tucker and Hunter.

Attitude is Contagious

This week I am sharing two short articles instead of one.  The point of both is that your attitude has alot to do with the perception you have of how things are going.  A good attitude can make things go well.  A bad attitude can make things go poorly.   Not only for yourself but for those around you. 


The first article is a short story about a monk living between two travellers.  It is interesting to see the monk's wisdom as to how attitude can make or break the situation.  It is pasted below and linked here.

The second article is also pasted below and it comapres a bad attitude to polluted air.  A bad attitude can ruin a good work environment so please don't be a polluter.   Be a purifier.  This article is pasted below and linked here.

The Monk and the Traveler.

They say a person can pretty much determine their own attitude or outlook on life. Many dispute that fact as they feel circumstances determine those critical factors. A quick journey back to your high school days or even as recent as a previous job and you can probably recall a number of instances that may better clarify this age-old dispute. Simply take a moment to visualize two contrasting personalities who were somewhat consistent in their views of people, places, policies or politics. Take the role of the non-judgmental monk in the following scenario and see which side of the dispute you may favor as you determine which village you seek.
One day a traveler was walking along a road on his journey from one village to another. As he walked he noticed a monk tending the ground in the fields beside the road. The monk said “Good day” to the traveler, and the traveler nodded to the monk. The traveler then turned to the monk and said, “Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Not at all,” replied the monk.

“I am traveling from the village in the mountains to the village in the valley, and I was wondering if you knew what it is like in the village in the valley?”

“Tell me,” said the monk, “what was your experience of the village in the mountains?”

“Dreadful,” replied the traveler. “To be honest I am glad to be away from there. I found the people most un-welcoming. When I first arrived I was greeted coldly. I was never made to feel part of the village no matter how hard I tried. The villagers keep very much to themselves, they don’t take kindly to strangers. So tell me, what can I expect in the village in the valley?”
“I am sorry to tell you,” said the monk, “but I think your experience will be much the same there.”
The traveler hung his head despondently and walked on.
A few months later another traveler was journeying down the same road, and he also came upon the monk.
“Good day,” said the traveler.
“Good day,” said the monk.
“How are you?” asked the traveler.

“I’m well,” replied the monk. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the village in the valley,” replied the traveler. “Do you know what it is like?”
“I do,” replied the monk. “But first tell me—where have you come from?”
“I’ve come from the village in the mountains.”

“And how was that?”

“It was a wonderful experience. I would have stayed if I could, but I am committed to traveling on. I felt as though I was a member of the family in the village. The elders gave me much advice, the children laughed and joked with me, and people were generally kind and generous. I am sad to have left there. It will always hold special memories for me. And what of the village in the valley?” he asked again.

“I think you will find it much the same,” replied the monk. “Good day to you.”

“Good day and thank you,” the traveler replied, smiled and journeyed on.

Attitude is contagious – What are people catching from YOU?

By John C Maxwell

Several things on a team are not contagious. Talent. Experience. Willingness to practice. But you can be sure of one thing: Attitude is catching. When someone on the team is teachable and his humility is rewarded by improvement, others are more likely to display similar characteristics. When a leader is upbeat in the face of discouraging circumstances, others admire that quality and want to be like her.… People have a tendency to adopt the attitudes of those they spend time with – to pick up on their mindset, beliefs, and approaches to challenges.

One of my mentors, Fred Smith, once told me there are two kinds of people in any organization: polluters and purifiers.

Polluters are like smokestacks, belching out dirty smoke all the time. They hate clear skies, and no matter how clear the air is, they can find a way to poison it with gloom. When the people around them “breathe” their toxins, they feel sicker and sicker.

Purifiers, on the other hand, make everything around them better. It doesn’t matter what kind of rotten atmosphere they encounter. They take in the toxic words of polluters in the organization just as everyone else does, but they filter the words before passing them on. What goes in may be gloomy and negative, but when it comes back out, it’s fresh and clear.

When you spend time with others, do they walk away feeling better or worse? Do you clear the air, giving them a fresh perspective and positive encouragement? Or do they go away feeling gloomy? Watch how people respond to you, and you’ll know which kind of person you are.

More on attitude and teamwork can be found in Today Matters, and The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork.

Time is Happiness

Sorry,  I have missed the last few weeks. 

This week's article is a study that shows that happiness is directly related to how well you manage your time.  It is worth noting that once again a study shows that money really has no correlation to happiness.  It is all about spending your time wisely.  Time is not money.  It is far more valuable than that. 

Here is a link to the article pasted below.

Also here is a link to a pdf poster that shows 10 things  to do achieve happiness.

If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy, Consider Time

Apr 19th, 2011

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS — Our search to understand what makes humans happy (or happier) goes back centuries. As does our enduring belief that if we just do the right thing, happiness will follow — that additional happiness will be doled out to us because we earned it, not due to the largess of a benevolent being. “Happiness is not a reward — it is a consequence,” instructs Robert Green Ingersoll, a Civil War-era orator. Many notable others, from Aristotle to the Buddha to Ursula K. LeGuin, agree with this sentiment.

New research takes a fresh look at this topic. Jennifer Aaker and Melanie Rudd at Stanford University, and Cassie Mogilner at the University of Pennsylvania, published “If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy, Consider Time,” in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2011. They discuss how happiness is indeed a consequence of the choices people make. So what can people do to increase their happiness? Their answer is surprisingly simple: spend your time wisely. Careful though. Some of the ways people should spend their time are, in fact, surprising.

Although happiness is clearly relevant for individuals, businesses should also pay attention. Building a workforce of highly qualified, hard-working, and loyal employees is an essential aspect of staying competitive in today’s global markets. Therefore, being concerned about employee happiness is not just a moral thing to do, but it makes smart business sense as well.

“People often make career choices based on how much money they envision they can make now or in the future. Surprisingly little thought goes into how they will be using their time — whether they can control their time, who they will spend their time with, and what activities they will spend their time on,” said Aaker, General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
“We spend most of our time at work. So understanding how we should be spending our time at work is much more important than people think. It has been interesting to observe which companies are doing a good job of creating opportunities for employees to manage their own time. This goes beyond providing opportunities for flexible hours, telecommuting, and independent contractor relationships. Which companies are allowing opportunities for employees to fundamentally design how they spend their time both at work and outside of work — in ways that are creative and innovative? As Millennials enter the workforce, these types of demands will become even more common.”

Over the years, there has been relatively little research on the relationship between the resource of time and happiness. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is another resource — money — that has been investigated much more thoroughly as a potential key to happiness. Yet, very little research corroborates the idea that more money leads to more happiness. Some research suggests that perhaps people just aren’t spending it right. In fact, even the mere mention of money can result in individuals being less likely to engage in behaviors linked to personal happiness, such as helping others, donating to charity, or socializing with friends and family. After being prompted to think about wealth, individuals work more, and their ability to enjoy small moments becomes significantly compromised.

“We know that people with meaningful social connections are happier than those without them,” said Mogilner. “The more time that individuals spend with their partners, best friends, and close friends, the happier they are. When they spend time with people who they dislike or when they spend time alone, their happiness levels drop. Loneliness is a relatively good predictor of unhappiness.” Further, Mogilner has found that encouraging people to think about time (vs. money, for example) tends to foster those social connections. So thinking about time has a fundamental impact on how people behave.

Why might concentrating on time get us closer to our centuries-long search for happiness? One reason is because time spent doing something, especially when compared to owning something or spending money, is associated with personal meaning and evokes emotionally laden memories.

You might not recall how much money you had in your bank account when you were 20 years old, but most people remember their first kiss. Time also fosters interpersonal connections: the camaraderie that people get from attending a baseball game with friends, for example, would be more conducive to happiness than watching it alone in front of the television.

Drawing from their research and that of others, Aaker, Rudd, and Mogilner extracted five time-spending happiness principles:

Spend time with the right people. The greatest happiness levels are associated with spending time with people we like. Socially connecting activities — such as hanging out with friends and family — are responsible for the happiest parts of the day. However, work is also an essential element in the time-happiness relationship. Although spending time with bosses and coworkers tends to be associated with some of the lowest degrees of happiness, two of the biggest predictors of people’s general happiness are whether they have a ‘best friend’ at work and whether they like their boss. Therefore, people should try to reframe relationships and workplace goals such that colleagues become friends so that time spent at work becomes happier.

Spend time on the right activities. Certain activities are energizing, and others make us feel drained and defeated. To increase happiness, people should avoid spending time on the latter activities in favor of the former whenever possible. Of course, the bills have to be paid, the bathroom cleaned, and it’s sometimes a challenge to get through the day. But people need to reflect on how they are spending their time — the extent to which they mindlessly move from activity to activity without considering what they would really prefer to be doing. For instance, when deciding how to spend the next hour, simply asking yourself the question, ‘Will what I do right now become more valuable over time?’ could increase the likelihood that you behave in ways that are more in line with what will really make you happy.

Enjoy experiences without spending time actually doing them. Research in the field of neuroscience has shown that the part of the brain responsible for feeling pleasure — the mesolimbic dopamine system — can be activated when merely thinking about something pleasurable, such as drinking a favorite brand of beer or driving a favorite type of sports car. In fact, this research shows that people sometimes enjoys anticipating an activity more than actually doing it.
For example, reading guidebooks in advance of a big vacation and anticipating the food you’ll eat and the activities you’ll do while there could actually give you more pleasure than the vacation itself. In short, research suggests that we can be just as well — if not sometimes better — off if we imagine experiences without having them. So to increase happiness, spend plenty of time happily daydreaming.

Expand your time. Unlike money, time is inherently scarce. No one gets more than 24 hours per day. In fact, there is a bidirectional relationship between time’s scarcity and its value: not only does having little time make it feel more valuable, but when time is more valuable, it is perceived as more scarce. To increase happiness, it can make sense to focus on the here and now —because thinking about the present moment (vs. the future) has been found to slow down the perceived passage of time. Simply breathing more deeply can have similar effects.
In one study, subjects who were instructed to take long and slow breaths (vs. short and quick ones) for five minutes not only felt there was more time available to get things done, but also perceived their day as longer. And even though feeling time-constrained makes people less likely to take the time to help someone else, doing so actually makes people feel as though they have more spare time and gives them a sense of a more expansive future. Therefore, if you can’t afford to “buy” more discretionary time (e.g., by hiring a maid), focus on the present moment, breathe more slowly, and spend the little time that you have in helpful and meaningful ways.

Be aware that happiness changes over time. As we age, we experience different levels of happiness and how we experience happiness changes. Recent research found that younger people are more likely to experience happiness as excitement, whereas older individuals are more likely to experience happiness as feeling peaceful. Therefore, you should be aware that basing future decisions on your current perceptions of happiness may not lead to the maximum levels of happiness in the long run.
Finally, although the meaning of happiness may change, it does so in predictable patterns. Therefore, it is possible to anticipate such changes, and you should allow yourself to shift how you spend your time over the course of your life — as the meaning of happiness shifts.
Aaker points out that “the experiences people accumulate over the course of spending their limited time, quite literally makes up each person’s life. So, if you take away anything from this research, it should be that spending time with the people you love doing the things you love is the best road to happiness.”

— Alice LaPlante