A Parent's Role in Education

Nothing helps a child succeed like an involved parent. A little willingness from a child's parents can work wonders in the classroom. Read on to learn more about your role as a parent in the education of your child.

Parents want their children to succeed in school, but a parent's role in that success must not be underestimated. In school as in life, consistent support from parents is crucial to sustaining a student's confidence and sense of achievement. Parents play four distinct roles in their child's education: cheerleader, friend, teacher and enforcer. An understanding of these roles can help you help your child step up to the challenges of learning.

Be a Cheerleader

Children thrive on encouragement. It's just as important to support a child who doesn't perform well well as it is to congratulate them for success. Real learning is not based on reward, but on the value your child places on the process itself. It's important to make something positive out of failure and to teach young learners this vital skill. Ask your child what they do when they fail at something they're good at - a missed tackle on the football field for example, or a missed key on the piano. This will help them to see how important it is to keep trying and it will teach them to access the skills they already have when faced with new or less interesting challenges.

Be a Friend

Learning about math and reading isn't the only struggle your child faces in school. Maybe they're having problems with a teacher, a group of friends, or a bully on the playground. Sometimes what they really need is someone who is willing to hear what they're thinking--and that someone should be you.

With nobody to confide in, your child will have extra stress in their life, which can decrease self-esteem and motivation. Try to recall the struggles of your own school days. Here's a chance to start fresh and pass along a more positive experience. Listening respectfully to your child's concerns can be a major confidence booster all by itself. If you take your child seriously he's more likely to do the same for their education.

Be a Teacher

You can't just leave it all up to the teacher. Sure, it's their job, but even the best and brightest can be hard pressed to address the individual needs of every child, especially in a crowded classroom. Children still need personal attention, so it's the role of the parent to make sure they get it.

Stay in touch with your child's assignments, tests and ongoing projects. Set aside time each day to offer help. Be available and enthusiastic; your child needs to feel like you want to be there and that helping them isn't a chore. Connect with their teachers regularly to keep up with how things are going in the classroom. If you find your child needs extra help, be active in getting it, or better yet, work with them yourself. Tutoring your own children can be rewarding for both of you.

Be the Enforcer

Yes, sometimes you've go to be tough. But there's more to it than just discipline. Enforce in advance by helping your child set and keep schedules, reach goals and complete assignments on time. Be respectful. Don't expect your child to know how to use an assignment pad, or understand a class schedule. They won't get it right the first time.

Be patient but unwavering with the basics and your student will catch on. Sometimes you'll have to be strict, but a little firmness each day will teach your child vital time management skills. This will give them a sense of control and can help prevent a homework or term paper crisis. Be willing to be the bad guy, but don't make school or homework seem like a punishment. Think of yourself as the leader of an expedition, not a jailor. When things get difficult, they'll respect your authority and see you as a resource for the help they need

Coffee Shop Kindness

My senior year of high school was an extremely hectic one, to say the least. If I wasn’t studying and worrying about my grades, I was juggling multiple extracurricular activities or attempting to make sense of my plans for college. It seemed as if my life had turned into one crazy cloud of confusion
and I was stumbling around blindly, hoping to find some sort of direction. Finally, as senior year began to wind down, I got a part-time job working at the local coffee shop. I had figured that the job would be easy and, for the most part, stress-free. I pictured myself pouring the best gourmet coffees,
making delicious doughnuts, and becoming close friends with the regular customers.

What I hadn’t counted on were the people with enormous orders who chose to use the drive-thru window, or the women who felt that the coffee was much too creamy, or the men who wanted their iced coffees remade again and again until they reached a certain level of perfection. There were moments when I was exasperated with the human race as a whole, simply because I couldn’t seem to please anyone. There was always too much sugar, too little ice, and not enough skim milk. Nevertheless, I kept at it. One miserable rainy day, one of my regular customers came in looking depressed and defeated. My co-worker and I asked what the problem was and if we could help, but the customer wouldn’t reveal any details. He just said he felt like crawling into bed, pulling the sheets up over his head, and staying there for a few years. I knew exactly how he felt.

Before he left, I handed him a bag along with his iced coffee. He looked at me questioningly because he hadn’t ordered anything but the coffee. He opened the bag and saw that I had given him his favorite type of doughnut. “It’s on me,” I told him. “Have a nice day.”

He smiled and thanked me before turning around and heading back out into the rain. The next day was a horrible one. The rain was still spilling down from the sky in huge buckets and everyone in my town seemed to be using the drive-thru window because no one wanted to brave the black skies or the thunder and lightning.

I spent my afternoon hanging out the window, handing people their orders and waiting as they slowly counted their pennies. I tried to smile as the customers complained about the weather, but it was difficult to smile as they sat in their temperature-controlled cars with the windows rolled up, while I
dealt with huge droplets of water hanging from my visor, a shirt that was thoroughly soaked around the collar, and an air conditioner that blasted out cold air despite the fact that it was only sixty-seven degrees outside. On top of that, no one felt like tipping that day. Every time I looked into our tip jar, with its small amount of pennies, I grew more depressed.

Around seven o’clock that evening, however, my day took a turn for the better. I was in the middle of making another pot of vanilla hazelnut decaf when the customer from the day before drove up to the window. But instead of ordering anything, he handed me a single pink rose and a little note. He said that not too many people take the time to care about others and he was glad there were still people like me in the world. I was speechless and very touched; I hadn't thought that I had done anything incredible. After a moment, I came to my senses and thanked him. He told me I was welcome
and with a friendly wave he drove away.

I waited until I saw his Jeep exit the parking lot, then I ran to the back of the shop and read the note. It read:

''Christine,


Thanks for being so sweet, kind and thoughtful yesterday. I was sincerely touched by you. It is so nice to meet someone that’s genuinely nice, warm and sensitive and unselfish. Please don’t change
your ways because I truly believe that you will excel. Have a great day! Hank''

As time went on, I did come across more complaining customers. But anytime I felt depressed or just plain sick of coffee, I thought of Hank and his kindness. Then I would smile, hold my head up high, clear my throat and ask politely, “How can I help you?”

From - Chicken Soup for the Soul

Broken Wing - Jim Hullihan

Some people are just doomed to be failures. That's the way some adults look at troubled kids. Maybe you've heard the saying, "A bird with a broken wing will never fly as high." I'm sure that T. J. Ware was made to feel this way almost every day in school. 


By high school, T. J. was the most celebrated troublemaker in his town. Teachers literally cringed when they saw his name posted on their classroom lists for the next semester. He wasn't very talkative, didn't answer questions and got into lots of fights. He had flunked almost every class by the time he entered his senior year, yet was being passed on each year to a higher grade level. Teachers didn't want to have him again the following year. T. J. was moving on, but definitely not moving up. I met T. J. for the first time at a weekend leadership retreat. All the students at school had been invited to sign up for ACE training, a program designed to have students become more involved in their communities. T. J. was one of 405 students who signed up. When I showed up to lead their first retreat,
the community leaders gave me this overview of the attending students: "We have a total spectrum represented today, from the student body president to T. J.Ware, the boy with the longest arrest record in the history of town." Somehow, I knew that I wasn't the first to hear about T. J.'s darker side as the first words of introduction.


At the start of the retreat, T. J. was literally standing outside the circle of students, against the back wall, with that "go ahead, impress me" look on his face. He didn't readily join the discussion groups, didn't seem to have much to say. But slowly, the interactive games drew him in. The ice really melted when the groups started building a list of positive and negative things that had occurred at school that year. T. J. had some definite thoughts on those situations. The other students in T. J.'s group welcomed his comments. All of a sudden T. J. felt like a part of the group, and before long he was being treated like a leader. He was saying things that made a lot of sense, and everyone was listening. T. J. was a smart guy and he had some great ideas.


The next day, T. J. was very active in all the sessions. By the end of the retreat, he had joined the Homeless Project team. He knew something about poverty, hunger and hopelessness. The other students on the team were impressed with his passionate concern and ideas. They elected T. J. co-chairman of the team. The student council president would be taking his instruction from T. J. Ware. When T. J. showed up at school on Monday morning, he arrived to a firestorm. A group of teachers were protesting to the school principal about his being elected co-chairman. The very first communitywide service project was to be a giant food drive, organized by the Homeless Project team. These teachers couldn't believe
that the principal would allow this crucial beginning to a prestigious, three-year action plan to stay in the incapable hands of T. J. Ware. They reminded the principal, "He has an arrest record as long as your arm. He'll probably steal half the food." Mr. Coggshall reminded them that the purpose of
the ACE program was to uncover any positive passion that a student had and reinforce its practice until true change can take place. The teachers left the meeting shaking their heads in disgust, firmly convinced that failure was imminent.


Two weeks later, T. J. and his friends led a group of 70 students in a drive to collect food. They collected a school record: 2,854 cans of food in just two hours. It was enough to fill the empty shelves in two neighborhood centers, and the food took care of needy families in the area for 75 days. The local newspaper covered the event with a full-page article the next day. That newspaper story was posted on the main bulletin board at school, where everyone could see it. T. J.'s picture
was up there for doing something great, for leading a record-setting food drive. Every day he was reminded about what he did. He was being acknowledged as leadership material. T. J. started showing up at school every day and answered questions from teachers for the first time. He led a second project, collecting 300 blankets and 1,000 pairs of shoes for the homeless shelter. The event he started
now yields 9,000 cans of food in one day, taking care of 70 percent of the need for food for one year. T. J. reminds us that a bird with a broken wing only needs mending. But once it has healed, it can fly higher than the rest. T. J. got a job. He became productive. He is flying quite nicely these days.

BURNT BISCUITS

When I was a kid, my mom would prepare special breakfast every now and then.  And I remember one night in particular, after a long, hard day at work.  On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad.  I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!  Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school.  I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits.  And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned.

He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired.  And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"  You know, life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people.  I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else.

What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults - and choosing to celebrate each others differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God.  Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!

We could extend this to any relationship.  In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own."

So Please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burnt one will do just fine.!.!.!.! 


FROM FORWARDED MAIL

The Best Time of My Life

It was June 15, and in two days I would be turning thirty. I was insecure about entering a new decade of my life and feared that my best years were now behind me. My daily routine included going to the gym for a workout before going to work. Every morning I would see my friend Nicholas at the gym. He was seventy-nine years old and in terrific shape. As I greeted Nicholas on this particular day, he noticed I wasn't full of my usual vitality and asked if there was anything wrong. I told him I was feeling anxious about turning thirty. I wondered how I would look back on my life once I reached Nicholas's age, so I asked him, "What was the best time of your life?" Without hesitation, Nicholas replied, "Well, Joe, this is my philosophical answer to your  philosophical question: 
"When I was a child in Austria and everything was taken care of for me and I was nurtured by my parents, that was the best time of my life.
"When I was going to school and learning the things I know today, that was the best time of my life.
"When I got my first job and had responsibilities and got paid for my efforts, that was the best time of my life.
"When I met my wife and fell in love, that was the best time of my life.
"The Second World War came, and my wife and I had to flee Austria to save our lives. When we were together and safe on a ship bound for North America, that was the best time of my life.
"When we came to Canada and started a family, that was the best time of my life.
"When I was a young father, watching my children grow up, that was the best time of my life.
And now, Joe, I am seventy-nine years old. I have my health, I feel good and I am in love with my wife just as I was when we first met. This is the best time of my life."


From Chicken Soup for the Soul

Overwhelmed By Your Goals? Discover 3 Questions to Maintain Momentum

Written by Jack Canfield

The new year kicks off with high expectations and motivation. But by early February, momentum slows. A sense of overwhelm is often the source of friction that slows the progress of achieving our goals.

Some people become overwhelmed because they set too many goals. Others find that the size of their goals paralyzes them. The solution is to set realistic goals and prioritize where you spend your time.

What Is Your Motivation?

The ideal goal is one that forces you to grow to achieve it, yet is not so big that it seems impossible. For some people, a big goal is adopting a consistent exercise program. For others, “big” is as expansive as ending world hunger. Each person has a unique threshold for what will stretch them.

Start by reviewing your list of goals and questioning your motivation for setting each. If we approach goal setting with the wrong mindset, it can be tempting to dismiss our small or highly personal goals as unworthy when compared with goals set by others. In an effort to feel better about ourselves and our goals, we tend to abandon the goals that bring us great joy in favor of goals that look and sound good.

Did you set a goal of writing a book, starting a business, or ending world hunger because that’s what you really want? Or did they make it on your list because you thought they’d make you look good to others? If you discover that you set goals only because you thought they were more worthy, remove them from your list.

Is Your Goal Realistic?

Another way we can become paralyzed is by setting unrealistic goals. For example, consider the goal that I often hear from entrepreneurs: Generating $1 million in revenue in the next year. If your business is already generating $350,000 a year, tripling your revenue is a goal that will stretch you. However, if you have been unemployed for three years and are only launching a new business this year, thinking that you’ll make $1 million in a year is unrealistic. Without the infrastructure, relationships, products and systems in place, achieving that big of a target may not be impossible, but it is unrealistic.

If you find a goal that is unrealistic, one solution is to set milestone goals that you’ll achieve on the way to conquering your big goal.

Raymond Aaron, a world-renowned expert on goal setting and member of my Transformational Leadership Council, teaches us to set three levels of goals:

• Minimum. What is the minimum level you need to establish a strong foundation? This might be creating $100,000 in business revenue.
• Target. Once you’ve establish a foundation, what is a milestone goal that will stretch you? This might be to generate $500,000 in business revenue – a point at which you’ll have abundant income to invest in your company’s growth, as well as reward yourself as an owner.
• Outrageous. This is the level that looks unrealistic from where you are starting, but that is possible as a long-term goal. In the example I used earlier, it would be to generate $1 million in revenue.

Do You Have Too Many Goals?

When the source of overwhelm is the number of goals you’re trying to achieve, the solution is simple: Focus on fewer goals at one time.

One way to prioritize our goals is to compare them one by one. Imagine that you have four goals. Consider goal one and goal two. If you could only do one of them, which is most important to you? Now take the “winner” – let’s say it’s goal one – and compare it to the next goal on your list. Is goal one still the winner, or is it less important than goal three? Go through this process until all of your goals have been prioritized in their order of importance to you.

A second way to prioritize your goals is to create a matrix of six columns. List your goals down the left side of the page in column one. In the remaining columns, answer these questions about each goal:

• Column 2: How much money could I make if I achieve this goal?
• Column 3: What impact will achieving this goal have on the world?
• Column 4: How many hours will it take to achieve this goal?
• Column 5: How many people need to be involved to achieve this goal?
• Column 6: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing absolute joy and 10 representing pain, how much happiness will achieving this goal bring me?

By completing the matrix, we’re able to easily see which goals will generate the most money, impact and happiness as a return on our investment of time and energy.

Dreaming Big IS Good

Setting lots of goals – including what I call Big, Hairy Audacious Goals – are the mark of a successful person. Use these three questions to ensure that you can dream big without becoming paralyzed by the size of your dreams.

The 10 Most Important Minutes of Your Day

Written by Jack Canfield

Using Visualization to Harness the Power of Your Subconscious Mind

January 1 is traditionally a time for setting goals. But within weeks, many people lose their motivation and abandon their New Year’s resolutions.

If you want to buck the trend and not only maintain your momentum, but also increase your chances of success, supplement your goal setting with visualization.

Harness the Subconscious Mind

Visualization – seeing the goal as already complete in your mind’s eye – is a core technique used by the world’s most successful people. Visualization is effective because it harnesses the power of our subconscious mind.

When we visualize goals as complete, it creates a conflict in our subconscious mind between what we are visualizing and what we currently have. Our minds are hard-wired to resolve such conflicts by working to create a current reality that matches the one we have envisioned.

Visualization activates the creative powers of the subconscious mind, motivating it to work harder at creating solutions. You’ll also notice new levels of motivation and find yourself doing things that normally you would avoid, but that will take you closer to success.

The third way visualization boosts success is by programming the Reticular Activating System (RAS), which serves as a mental filter for the 8 million bits of information that are streaming into our brains at any one time. (To learn more about the RAS, refer to Principle 11 in The Success Principles.)

The RAS thinks in pictures, not words. Daily visualization feeds the RAS the pictures it needs to start filtering information differently. As a result, your RAS will start to pay attention to anything that might help you achieve your goals – information that it otherwise might ignore.

Live in the Moment

Although a daily practice of visualization is vital, we don’t need to spend all day thinking about our goals for this technique to work. In fact, spending too much time in visualization can rob you of something essential – living in the moment.

Daily rituals help to establish the right balance between thinking about the future and living in the moment. Start by picking a time during which you’ll review your goals and visualize your success. Ideally, do this twice a day – first thing in the morning and right before you go to bed. The process typically will take 10 minutes or less.

If you meditate, do your visualizations immediately after your meditation. The deepened state reached during meditation heightens the impact of visualization.

For greatest effect, read your goals or affirmations out loud. After each one, close your eyes and create the visual image of the completed goal in your mind.

To multiply the effects, add sound, smells, and tastes. Most importantly, add the emotions and bodily sensations you would be feeling if you had already achieved your goal. Research has revealed that images or scenes that are accompanied by intense emotion will stay locked in our memory forever. The more passion, excitement and energy we muster during visualization, the more powerful the results will be.

Once you have visualized each goal as complete, it’s time to release. Let go of your goals, and spend the rest of your day being in the present moment.

Be Present Instantly

An easy way to instantly become present is to focus on your bodily sensations. It’s impossible to focus on our bodies and be in the past or the future at the same time.

For example, focus on your left foot right now. What are you feeling? Pay attention to the sensation for a minute. Then notice what you’re feeling in your right foot, and spend a few moments really feeling the sensation. If you were able to pay attention to your feet, congratulations. You were absolutely present.

If you find your mind drifting to the future throughout the day, let go of any fears or worries that arise. Shift your thoughts to what you want the future to look like when you get there. Then bring your awareness back to the moment.

As the saying goes, “Today is a gift—that’s why it’s called the present.” Use visualization to achieve your goals, but invest the majority of your time enjoying the gift of today.

Get Clear About What You Want

Written by Jack Canfield

 It’s easy to start the new year full of enthusiasm and optimism. But to maintain your momentum through the year, you need to set powerful, crystal-clear goals

The first step to getting what you want out of life this is to decide exactly what you want.

What do you want to accomplish?
What do you want to experience?
What do you want to acquire?
Who do you want to be?

One of primary reasons most people don’t get what they want is that they aren’t clear about what they want. Others will recognize what they’d like to have, but when they can’t see how it’s possible to get what they want, and they dismiss their desires as foolish and unattainable.

Don’t sabotage yourself this way!

After decades of research into how the human brain works, scientists now know that for our brains to figure outhow to get what we want, we must first decide what we want. Once we lock-in our desires, our mind and the universe can step in to help make our dreams a reality.

Dream Big

We start the process by getting clear about what we want. So, what do you want? To create a balanced and successful life, write down a minimum of 3 goals in each of the following 7 areas:

Financial Goals
Career/Business Goals
Free Time/Family Time
Health/Appearance Goals
Relationship Goals
Personal Growth
Making a Difference

If you have more goals than this, don’t limit yourself – write them down! On the other hand, if writing down 21 goals seems like a lot, remember that we can have a mix of long- and short-term goals. For example, in the financial area, you may have a short-term goal of paying off a $5,000 credit card balance, as well as a long-term goal of amassing a net worth of $5 million dollars. You want to keep both goals present in your mind, even though you’ll be working more actively on the short-term goal first.

Stretch Yourself

When setting our goals, it’s important to include a few that will make us stretch and grow to achieve them. These might be learning a new skill or trying something that is uncomfortable and maybe a little frightening, such as public speaking. It also helps to set a breakthrough goal that would represent a quantum leap. Examples of breakthrough goals include publishing a book, starting a business, getting on Oprah, winning a gold medal at the Olympics, or getting elected president of your industry association.

Material goals are important, but the ultimate goal is to become a master at life. In the long run, the greatest benefit we receive from pursuing our dreams is not the outer trappings of fulfilling the dream, but who we become in the process.

The outer symbols of success can all be easily lost. Houses burn down, companies go bankrupt, relationships end, cars get old, bodies age and fame wanes, but who you are, what you have learned, and the new skills you have developed never go away. These are the true prizes of success. Motivational philosopher Jim Rohn advises that “You should set a goal big enough that in the process of achieving it, you become someone worth becoming.” 

Turn Your Dreams Into Goals and Objectives

Once you are clear about what you want, write them down and turn each item into a measurable objective. Measurable means measurable in space and time – how much and by when.

For instance, if you were to tell me that you wanted more money, I might pull out a dollar and give it to you. You would probably protest, saying “No, I meant a lot more money, like $20,000!” But there is no way I’d know how you’d define “more money” unless you tell me, right?

Similarly, your boss, your friends, your spouse, your brain, God, and the Universe can’t figure out what you want unless you tell them specifically what it is. What exactly do you want and when do you want it by?

Your Goals Impact Others

As soon as you commit to a big dream and really go after it, your subconscious creative mind will come up with big ideas to make it happen. You’ll start attracting the people, resources, and opportunities you need into your life to make your dream come true. Big dreams not only inspire you, they compel others to want to play big, too.

You’ll also discover that when your dreams include service to others – that is, accomplishing something that contributes to others – it accelerates the accomplishment of that goal. People want to be part of something that contributes and makes a difference.

Work on Your Goals Daily

To keep your subconscious mind focused on what you want, read your list of goals every day. For an even more powerful approach, close your eyes and focus on each goal and ask yourself, "What is one thing I could do today to move toward the achievement of this goal?" Write down your answers and take those actions.

As the old joke goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Steady progress in bite-sized chunks puts even the most audacious goals into reach.

Three Ways to Express Appreciation for Greater Impact

Written by Jack Canfield

The process begins with us.

Someone once gave me a card that said, “The love I give to you is second-hand because I experienced it first.” In other words, for us to love someone else, we first have to feel the love within us.

To develop the ability to maintain a state of love and gratitude on a more regular basis, we need to make it a habit. We do dozens of things every day on automatic pilot, such as eating our meals, taking showers, or doing the dishes. We don’t have to spend time visualizing these activities or putting them on our to-do lists. We simply do them out of habit. Expressing appreciation on a daily basis will help you turn gratitude into a daily habit with multiple benefits.

3 Kinds of Appreciation

For your appreciation to hit the mark, keep in mind that there are three different kinds of appreciation – auditory, visual and kinesthetic. These are the three ways that our brains take in information, and everyone has a dominant type they prefer. Tailor the type of appreciation you give to suit the person you want to honor.

Auditory people like to hear appreciation. Expressing thanks verbally is the best way to let them know how much we appreciate them. Auditory people are very sensitive to the tones of our voices, so speaking in a caring and compassionate voice is highly effective.

Visual people like to receive things they can see. Letters, cards, flowers, plaques, certificates, pictures and any other gifts are perfect for these individuals.

Kinesthetic people need to feel appreciation. My wife is a kinesthetic person. She loves to do things that make her feel good, such as hiking, getting massages or picking out clothes that feel good to the touch. The best way for me to express appreciation to my wife is with a hug, a kiss or simply spending time with her.

Blend for Impact

When in doubt, use all three types of communication. Tell them, show them and give them a pat on the back. For example, put your arm around your kids when you tell them how much you appreciate them and then follow up later with a card.

Using multiple forms of communication also can strengthen your message. Although I am very visual, I’m also a big fan of physical touch. If you give me a hug, a handshake or a high five, the physical touch multiples the appreciation I feel by a factor of 10!

Keep Score

New habits take 30 to 60 days to lock in. An Appreciation Scorecard is an easy way to build the habit of expressing your gratitude.

When I was working to consciously lock in this new habit, I carried a 3” x 5” card in my pocket all day. Every time I acknowledged and appreciated someone, I would place a check mark on the card.

I set a goal of appreciating 10 people every day. I would not go to bed without achieving my daily quota. I would appreciate my wife and children, write letters to my mother or stepfather, or e-mail my staff. I did this every day for 6 months, until I no longer needed the card as a reminder.

As we build the habit of appreciation, it helps to expand the circle of people whom we appreciate. Our society flourishes because of connections. We literally couldn’t survive without other people. Nobody pumps their own petroleum, turns it into gas, and trucks it into their own town. Other people do it. The food we eat probably has 30 to 40 people involved in it before it gets to our tables. Although they may be strangers, the people who serve us by doing their part in making our society function deserve our thanks, too.

Build Your Appreciation Muscle

To build the habit of appreciation, I encourage you to keep a daily scorecard as I did. Express your appreciation to at least 10 people a day, both individuals you know intimately, as well as virtual strangers who touch your life. Experiment with the different forms of appreciation, and observe how much more deeply your appreciation is received when you find the right way to deliver it for each individual