Showing your gratitude isn’t a life-consuming chore. It only takes minimal time and effort to say “please”, “thank you”, “I appreciate it”, and “have a nice day”. However, it’s these seemingly insignificant words that have sparked my gratitude time and time again.
Working for Work’s Sake
Imagine this: you’re doing a project you love: making a presentation, or delivering a speech, or planning an event for a large crowd of people. When you first sit down to plan the project, you’re full of energy. You work for weeks to make your project as perfect as possible. Your audience is very pleased and loves what you’ve done. But they don’t tell you.
When you say “hello”, everyone likes your greeting but they don’t say “hello” back to you.When you’re presenting the project, everyone is excited, happy, and proud of you. But they don’t say they feel that way. When you finish your project, everyone is grateful for what you’ve done-but their gratitude is silent. They never say a single “thank you”.
If nobody says a single word of politeness or gratitude to you, how do you know your audience is grateful? Silence can mean anything. And when we are uncertain, we always assume the worst. After all, who is grateful for someone they won’t openly thank? When we present our efforts but no one says a single word of thanks, we feel as if this effort meant nothing and we are working for work’s sake.
Telling is Believing
A few months ago, I was in a very similar scenario to the one I just described. However, in my case, there were some small differences that completely changed my feelings. Because I struggled in my first few years of high school, I decided to make a presentation on study tips for students and their parents. I worked for about a month making my presentation as clear as possible. Luckily, my audience was very pleased with my presentation, and they made sure I knew it.
How did I know they felt this way? It’s because of a very small difference-my audience was grateful, and they went the extra step to share their gratitude with me. When I said “good evening”, they told me that they were excited to hear what I had to share. When I explained information, they told me that I helped them understand the information better. They smiled and laughed when I made jokes. And when I finished my presentation, nearly every single audience member thanked me. Some of them even stayed after the presentation to talk to me.
Because my audience took the time to tell me how grateful they were, I was able to share this gratitude with them. I had no doubts about my presentation, because their enthusiasm left no room for me to doubt. Even now, months after this presentation, I feel proud of what I did, because I know my efforts completely paid off.
Small Words, Monumental Appreciation
We often think that only grand acts of bravery or sacrifice can be rewarded with appreciation. However, doing something as simple as taking a few seconds to voice your gratitude can completely change someone’s day for the better. Here are my words to show my gratitude for these simple acts of kindness: Thank you for saying “thank you”!
