The whole world is waiting!
Somewhere in this world, there is a child waiting to be appreciated by his/her teacher at school with a star.
Somewhere in this world, there is a teacher, waiting to be loved and appreciated by his/her partner in life.
Somewhere in this world, there is a partner, waiting to be appreciated by his/her boss for the sincere efforts at work.
And somewhere in this world, there is a boss, waiting to feel appreciated by his/her child for the love and care.
We are all waiting to be appreciated. And yet, we are all too busy in our hectic daily lives to stop by and appreciate others.
Beneath every dream or goal we have, we hold a desire for appreciation. We want to feel loved, feel good about ourselves and our efforts, we want to feel appreciated. It is a core human need. If we look at the famous Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, ‘Love and Belonging’ is on the third level. Lack of appreciation holds us back from moving up on the pyramid of human needs toward self-actualization.
Let's talk at a larger level. When it comes to workplaces, research suggests that 79% of people quit their jobs because they feel unappreciated at work. While many organizations do great efforts at recognizing employees, most of them, however, fail to appreciate their employees.
What is the difference between recognition and appreciation? Well, Recognition is result-based. Appreciation is process or effort based. When we appreciate a person, we value them and their efforts; irrespective of the quality of the results.
The research further suggests that while Recognition increases the productivity by 23%, Appreciation increases it by 43%.
So take action now. Take out your phone and send a message of appreciation to one person immediately. It could be your mother, brother or partner. Your boss or your colleague. It could be the office boy or the security guard. It could be your son, daughter or your neighbour.
Appreciation flows in every direction. Irrespective of the age, caste, gender, status and geography - people all around us are waiting to be appreciated. Make someone feel loved and valued with your text message today.
Ankita Arora
Ankita strives to transform individuals and organisations so that they can have a purposeful and joyful experience. Ankita is an HR Professional turned into an entrepreneur, author, and trainer. She is the founder of Morfosis.