On January first of this year, following up on the
Happiness Advantage work of Shawn Achor and inspired by John Kralik’s book; A Simple Act of Gratitude, I decided to
take on the ambitious task of writing 365 hand written thank you notes. I find myself at the beginning of my fourth month
and to date I have not missed writing a single note.
So at the end of March, I have written 90
thank you notes. Of those 90 notes, half
of the people receiving them have responded back to me – even though I had no
expectations.
There have been
no remarkable comments to highlight, other than I continue to feel motivated
and determined to complete this inspiring journey. I read a quote from a daily meditation on the website www.livinglifefully.com that really stuck with me about persistence and
success…roughly translated it is about “doing something in life longer than
anyone else in order to become successful.”
At every possible opportunity I share my journey,
challenging people to write at least one “thank you”. I like to talk to people about the one person
in their life that they feel deserves to be thanked. Most people comment to me that they do not
know 365 different people. I share with
them that as an introvert my circle of reach and influence may not be all that
broad, but I believe there are certainly 365 people in my life that have helped
me – some I may have not met yet; I have no doubt that I will.
My challenge to you as a leader: consider taking a 21 day
challenge by writing out thank you notes to the people who have made a
difference in your career. I further
challenge you to stretch and reach out to strained relationships, as well. See what happens…you just might be pleasantly
surprised!
