The flip side of doing good – saying ‘Thank You’
What do we say when others do good for us?
‘Thank You’ is such a simple, short, and honorable statement that it seems to be getting taken for granted in today’s world.
Doesn’t it feel great when you do something, big or small, for someone and they pause, look you in the eyes and give you a truly sincere, “Thank You”?
How easy is it to give that same gift to someone else?
As our wonderful wizard in residence Russ Johns likes to say “Kindness is cool, and smiles are free.”
Doing good is one of the core tenants of how we live here at Adora.
Yet we’ve stumbled upon – OK, maybe been slapped in the face with – a few cultural trends we would like to shift in a better direction.
We want to encourage an attitude of gratitude. One way we’ll lead the charge on this is simply by saying thank you, audibly, more often.
According to positive psychologists, the words ‘thank you‘ are no longer just good manners, they’re also good for our well being.
The linked article above gives some of the best known examples of studies that suggest being grateful can improve well-being, physical health, strengthen social relationships, produce positive emotional states and help us cope with stressful times in our lives.
We also say thank you for a few other reasons. We want the other person to know we value what they’ve done for us and possibly encourage them to help us again in the future.
It’s this aspect of gratitude that Adam M. Grant and Francesca Gino examine in a series of studies published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Grant & Gino, 2010). The Harvard Business Review interviewed them and it’s worth taking the time to listen to that here.
The studied aimed to discover the effect gratitude has on the person being thanked. Does it motivate them and, if so, just by making person feel good or something else?
The data is a wonderfully confirms the power of the simple phrase ‘Thank You’ – and Adora wants to lead the effort to make this an even more common and prevalent statement.
If you agree we would love to hear from you. Just tag us on social media and mention someone who has done something, a big or small something, for you and use the hashtag #thankyou.
Thank you for visiting us here are Adora create. We hope you have an amazing day!
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