Remember the whole….love your people…relationships are a privilege bit we discussed yesterday? How important communication is and all that jazz. Still true today by the way, but I want to talk more about appreciation.
People don’t leave places where they feel appreciated. Think about all the reasons you’ve walked away from jobs, friendships, relationships, businesses….whatever it is. Most of us leave situations because we think they don’t care anymore. They don’t appreciate us. We aren’t making an impact.
So wouldn’t the opposite be true of staying? If we truly appreciated our employees, wouldn’t they work hard for us and not want to leave? If we truly showed our spouse how much they mean to us, wouldn’t our marriages be stronger? Wouldn’t our friends keep coming around if we expressed appreciation? I know, on the one hand, its not that simple. But on the other hand, it really is that simple. We go where we are appreciated and when we start to feel like no one cares anymore we start looking for other opportunities.
I need my presence to make an impact. I need to walk into a room and know that I make a difference. I don’t care if that’s my own living room or a board room. I need to be impacting the people around me, if I’m not, its time for me to go elsewhere.
It is our nature to take people for granted. It is our nature to take our jobs for granted. It is our nature to take our families for granted. The truth is friends, there are a lot of people that would kill to have your bad days. Be thankful for all the good in your life. Start looking for it, seeking it out and being truly thankful for it. Not all things we wish for turn out the way we thought they would but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be thankful for them.
