February 06, 2008   Seeing Good at Work

Appreciation

Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere wor...

Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free and worth a fortune.

(Sam Walton)

Appreciation, apart from meaning "an expression of thanks" or the act of showing admiration, is also a term used in accounting relating to the increase in value of something, for example an asset. It is the opposite of depreciation, which tracks the fall in value of assets over time.

I like to think of this accounting term when thinking of the people in my world who have contributed to my wellbeing and growth. I like to imagine that there is a way that I can communicate with them that will have the result of raising in value the place they hold in my life - probably exactly because I took the time to announce something like gratitude or admiration. I like to imagine also, although I can't know for certain, that my expression of thanks and words of admiration might have the effect of increasing the value that person feels in themselves.

In myself, one of the ways of showing appreciation for my own life comes from the world of real estate. An increase in property value comes from a positive improvment in it through any number of methods. Property might also be improved by the elimination of negative factors. I like to imagine that a powerful way of showing appreciation, and actually raising my self-value, is to do the same: a positive improvement (a haircut, a good dinner, 8 hours sleep, etc.) or through the elimination of something that would be best to let go of.

Oh, this picture is me and my brother Garry.... two "r"s