I recently received an unexpected ‘Thank You’ letter and it was pleasant reminder about being grateful for all the small and intangible things we encounter. A couple weeks ago I hosted a TEDx here in my hometown of Sugar Land. It was a fantastic event and it never would have been successful if not for the hard work of dozens of volunteers. One particular volunteer is a close friend of mine. This was the second year he was helping me with the event. His job was to manage all the speakers that would be sharing their amazing ideas and stories with our audience. He would prep them for the stage, make sure their mics were positioned, calmed them down or psyched them up (depending on which they needed) and cue them to walk out on stage and onto the red carpet in front of the huge TEDx sign.
He was great at what he did and he was doing it all for free! He was an essential piece of our volunteer team and all I could muster was a quickly spoken “Thanks for helping today” as we passed backstage.
Flash forward over a week. A small nondescript letter showed up and blew me away! My friend, that had been so instrumental in the success of my event sent ME a thank you. It was a small gesture that warmed my heart and made me realize what true gratitude looks like. He was genuinely thankful for being part of the event and his letter inspired me.
Each of us needs to be more grateful and send more ‘thank yous’ out into the world.
So today, right now, go and thank someone for their efforts! I implore you to go be more grateful for those around you and show them how appreciative you are. Think of someone you may have taken for granted. It could be a coworker, employee, manager, friend, spouse, sibling, child, client, or colleague. Find someone that you are grateful for and tell them.
With a little effort we can let people know just how thankful we are.