4 Steps to Show Appreciation Over the Holidays

It’s the perfect time of year to be thankful…

Even in the midst of the greatest difficulties you will experience in life, you can find things for which you are truly grateful.

In fact, if you take a piece of paper and begin to write down the parts of your life you are grateful for…

You may be amazed at how many items appear on your list.

With the holiday season upon us, it’s a great time to show appreciation to coworkers, employees, and loved ones. By developing an attitude of gratitude, you will become warmer, friendlier, and increase your own self-esteem.

An attitude of gratitude causes you to be more sensitive and aware of people around you. The more gratitude you have, the more gratitude you express, the better and more positive your personality is, the higher your self-esteem becomes, the more popular and liked you are by all the people around you.

Different Ways to Show Gratitude

Over the holidays, develop the habit practicing the four A’s:

1. Appreciation
2. Approval
3. Admiration
4. Attention

I’m going to show you how to show appreciation in every part of your life by practicing these four A’s…

The habit of feeling and expressing gratitude to people, for all of the things in your life that you should be grateful for, has a wonderful effect on your personality.

How to Make Others Feel Important

One of the deepest needs in human nature is to feel valuable and important.

By developing an attitude of gratitude, you begin doing everything possible to raise the person’s self-esteem and help them to like themselves even more.

You should imagine this holiday season that every person is wearing a sign around his or her neck, all day long, that says, ‘‘Make me feel important.’’

In every interaction with every single person, you should respond to this basic human request. You should always be looking for ways to make people feel important and valuable as parts of your life.

Since the holidays are beginning, it is also a good time to take a moment for yourself and decide right now what you want to learn and take action.

How To Show Appreciation Using The Four A’s

There are four key behaviors that you can practice over the holidays, and every day after to make people feel important.

They all begin with the letter A:

1) Appreciation

Have an attitude of gratitude and take every opportunity over the holiday season to thank each person for everything that he or she does, small or large, in the process of carrying out their duties.

Every time you develop an attitude of gratitude and say, ‘‘Thank you,’’ to a person, 3 major things happen:

1. Their self-esteem goes up.
2. They feel better and more valuable.
3. They’re even more motivated to do more of the things for which they received appreciation in the first place.

2) Approval

The second way to make people feel valuable over the holiday season is to express approval.

Give praise and approval on every occasion, for every accomplishment of whatever size. Give praise for every good effort. Give praise for every good suggestion or idea. Especially, praise people when they do something that goes above and beyond the call of duty.

• Praise immediately
• Praise specifically
• Praise regularly

Whenever you praise people, they experience it physically and emotionally. Their self-esteem rises and they feel happy inside. And whatever you praise gets repeated. In fact, the definition of self-esteem is, ‘‘The degree to which a person feels himself or herself to be praiseworthy.’’

3) Admiration

The third self-esteem building behavior you can practice is admiration.

As Abraham Lincoln said, ‘‘Everybody likes a compliment.’’

Continually compliment people on their traits, such as punctuality and persistence.

This holiday season, compliment people on their accomplishments, both at work and in their private lives. Every time you admire something about another person, you raise that person’s self-esteem and make them feel happier. 

4) Attention

The fourth behavior, perhaps the most important of all over the holiday season, is the behavior of attention.

This simply means that you:

• Listen patiently
• Listen quietly
• Listen calmly
• Listen thoughtfully
• Listen without interrupting

True listeners hear what’s being said to them.

Be Thankful Over The Holidays

Over the holiday season, think of the wonderful experiences you’ve had in the past, the lessons you’ve learned, the books you’ve read, the movies you’ve seen, the songs you’ve heard, and the foods you have eaten.

Think of the places that you have visited and the experiences that you have had in your travels and work.

Look back over the years that have passed and look at the years ahead.

Think about the opportunities you have lying ahead of you, and you will be amazed at how many things you have in your life for which you can be truly grateful.

Things You Can Always Be Grateful For…

No matter what your condition, you can be grateful for all of your senses, for the miracles of sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, and feeling. You can be thankful for the functioning of your body and for the health of your limbs. You can be grateful for the incredible gift of the life that you have lived up until now, and the great life that lies ahead of you.

Take the Time to Reflect

During the holidays while sitting alone in your room, think about your current blessings and of reasons to be truly grateful.

Develop an attitude of gratitude and practice the four A’s to show your gratitude towards your loved ones, coworkers, and employees.

Our thanks to Brian Tracy.