Praise Others Genuinely and Often To Increase Your Gratitude

Did you realize that you can increase your gratitude each time you give praise? Yup! You can uplift another person and encourage yourself to adopt a more positive outlook on life. These are some tips for giving praise generously and enjoying the impact it has on you and the people around you.

Gratitude-FeedbackPraising Others Improves Your Life

1. Accentuate the positive. Paying attention to the good qualities and accomplishments of the people around you gives you more opportunities to give praise. Be genuine as you praise others on their accomplishments. Enjoy feeling uplifted more often. Enjoy feeling the gratitude more often.

2. Liberate yourself from defensive conduct. Being critical of others can sometimes feel like a way to protect yourself, but it’s actually counter-productive. Practicing patience and kindness helps you feel relaxed and happy. When you’re happy, it’s easy to give praise to others.

3. Strengthen your relationships.
You’ll feel closer to people as you cultivate more appreciation and affection for them. Your praise will mean a lot to those closest to you, including your children. As you get more skilled at praising the people you know best, you’ll have more confidence in extending yourself more broadly.

How Praising Others Improves Their Lives

1. Help others to achieve more. Praise works best when it facilitates achievement. Help others develop their own confidence and competence.

· Present your children with a challenge, like learning to ride a bike, and celebrate their success.

· You can reach out to anyone by recognizing their efforts to progress, whether they’re trying to lose weight or learn a foreign language.

· Celebrate the little things as well as the big things. Express your gratitude to others and let them know how you feel about them for things as simple as completing a report at work, making dinner, cleaning the house, or having a passing report card.

2. Spread the social benefits of praise. Nurturing positive emotions like admiration and gratitude makes us more ope
n to each other. Your praise can inspire people to keep up their good deeds and motivate others to do the same. It is a wonderful cycle that you can keep going.

3. Create a friendly environment. Commending others can help them relax and feel less anxious. It’s easier for people to take risks and grow if they feel supported. All conflicts are easier to defuse if people have a genuine affection for each other.

Tips for Giving Praise Generously and Effectively

1. Look for good news.
Focus on the qualities that make other people pleasant to be around and notice what they’re doing well. Sure there will be some negativity out there, but focus on, and express your gratitude towards, the good news.

2. Focus on effort as well as ability. Some studies show that it’s more effective to focus on effort than ability. By commending people for their perseverance and hard work, you can help them feel more comfortable taking on new challenges instead of limiting themselves to things they do well. Trying something new and causing a change is never easy for anyone (and for some it is more difficult!) Share the wonderful triad of Love, Joy, and Gratitude with them as they grow. IMC folks – you make me proud!

Be sincere. For praise to be meaningful, it has to be honest. Ensure you mean what you say. Not everyone has a great singing voice, but everyone does contribute in his or her own way. Keep looking until you find something credible to say. Use praise to express genuine approval rather than trying to change a person’s conduct.

Be specific. Your words have the most impact when you’re specific. Go beyond telling people that they did a good job. For example, let them know that you noticed that they made an extra effort to satisfy a client or streamlined the chaos that was developing in the storage closet.

Let people know how they’ve helped you. The most memorable praise usually lets people know what a difference they’ve made in your life. For instance, if your son gives you a break by taking care of his younger sibling, tell him how much you enjoyed having some free time and how much you appreciate his thoughtfulness and maturity.

Giving praise away makes you the recipient of pleasant feelings and better relationships. Be generous with praise and encouragement to help everyone around you feel better and accomplish more. The more genuine the thoughts that you share are, the better the recipient will feel. Let the gratitude flow as you share your praise.

Can you genuinely find 2 people to praise today?

Be Well.
Paul.
The Gratitude Guru

7 Comments

  1. alisa on February 9, 2011 at 4:23 pm

    Great tips Paul. this will certainly lead people to a bettr quality of life!

  2. Laurence Hansen on February 11, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    There is no place where giving praise is more important than as a parent.

    I can’t lay my hands on the exact number at the moment but the typical child, by the age of six, has heard “no” an order of magnitude more frequently than “yes.”

    As parents we must set boundaries to protect our children, so the nos are unavoidable. In order to raise children with genuine self-esteem, it is essential to give our children as many legitimate yeses and as much praise as we possibly can.

    YES! As parents we can raise more positive, optimistic, successful children with sincere praise and the simple word “yes.”

    Laurence

  3. Solvita on February 11, 2011 at 3:22 pm

    Yes Paul when you are coming from the place of gratitude, it comes naturally to you anyway, as you feel grateful you want to praise everyone in your life, as they are a part of yourself, as no-one shows up in your life by an accident! It can be other way round -be grateful and you will praise…
    Great article, thank you! 🙂

  4. Victoria Gazeley on February 11, 2011 at 6:38 pm

    Brilliant reminder, Paul – thank you.

  5. Rob on February 11, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    I think it was Simon Cowell who said that the easiest way to deal with other people is by imagining that they are wearing a sign that says “Make me feel special”

  6. Donovan Grant on February 11, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    Hey Paul, that’s a really great post. A pleasant reminder of all the things that we take for granted. I especially like the ‘Celebrate the little things ‘ – too many times people gloss over the small things that help to make our lives a better place. Cheers!

  7. Carol Giambri on February 12, 2011 at 1:02 am

    Loved this post. Maybe this needs to go in the hands of all big people so they can share with the younger great generation. For some just not a natural process but can be learned. Thanks Paul.

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