The Impact of Gratitude

We often receive people’s help and kindness, and then neglect to thank them. Don’t make this mistake! The impact of gratitude goes a long way.

Gratitude is a powerful way to encourage others by telling them the results of something they did for you. If we don’t pass along our thanks, that help may not be there next time.

An executive told me, “I am always willing to help someone, even more so when I know they will do something with that help.” All too often we accept the help and then fail to thank the person who helped us by telling them what we did with their help.

We don’t thank others for a number of reasons including,

• we are too preoccupied
• we figure we could have done it on own anyway
• we didn’t follow through on what we said we would do
• we don’t want to bother the person, etc.

I have been helped by many people this year, yet I wonder if they know the impact their help had on me?

Share your gratitude, make an impact

Saying “thank you” is a type of feedback. As with all feedback, the more specific the better. It helps us to know what we are doing that is effective and important to others.

I receive occasional emails from people letting me how they are using what they learned at one of my workshops. I love getting notes like these – and I’m not fishing for more with this post.

A year ago, a women wrote to tell me how her relationship with her teenage daughter had been transformed as she took more of a coaching approach with her. That note inspired me to lead a Sunday School class for parents of teens at my church. For 8-weeks we explored how to integrate coaching skills into parenting teens. We all improved in our communication with our teenagers. One woman’s gratitude produced an impact in me that multiplied to others.

Showing gratitude by reporting back about how you are using what you have received from someone does a lot for the person who helped you.

Question: What are you grateful for? You can leave a comment by clicking here.