Here is a super simple exercise to do at the end of the month.
The Exercise
Simply choose a random number between 1 and 30 (or 31, 28 or 29 depending on the month and year). Now go to your email Inbox for that day in the month.
First go through the Sent Items. Quickly browse through every email and whenever you feel there was a genuine (from the heart) “Thank You” embedded within the email, add one to the “Thank You Given Counter” for that day.
Next, go through the Inbox for that day and do the same exercise. This time, add one to the “Thank You Received Counter” every time you see genuine (from the heart) “Thank You” embedded within the received email.
Now a pick a “Thank You Baseline” number that you think is reasonable. For this exercise, let’s assume that you picked a number seven (7)
The Analysis
Let’s look at the “Thank You Given Counter.” If it is less than the baseline number, there may be many reasons but two are worth remembering:
1. You don’t have enough people surrounding you that you can be thankful for. Not good.
OR
2. You are not thanking the people enough for all the help that you are receiving from them. Not good.
Both require you to change something.
Next, let’s look at the “Thank You Received Counter.” If it is less than the baseline number, there are many possibilities but there is an important one to remember:
You are not contributing enough that people are touched to take the time to send you a thank you note. Not good.
This requires you to change something.
Now, please don’t get carried away by the specific method outlined. I wanted to present something that is easy to implement. The concept behind it is more important than the actual method.
Most people don’t take the time to thank. Why? There are very busy with their own life. But, you are like most people. Every time you consume, take the time to see who was the provider and go out of the way to send them a thank you note. It will make their day and they will probably get more encouraged to make a bigger difference.
Similarly, most people who can contribute significantly won’t contribute. Why? Same reason – busy with their own life. But, you are not like most people. You could change that and start contributing.
Have a great day and thank you 🙂
=====================
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. I am honored that it is now one of the top 3 downloaded manifestos on ChangeThis.com.
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Photo Couresty: the little list on Flickr