Recognition: Make Others Happy!

It’s always great to see when people are happy with the little things in life. Things like recognition for their work. I remember that when I worked for a company that it often was very valuable for me to get the pad on my shoulder. Of course it has to be in balance and I know that most of you would say in times like this: ‘Right, when I stand at the counter in the supermarket I will say that I have no money, but a huge amount of shoulder paddings (don’t know if this is good English). Can I pay with them?’

However, as I had not to worry about money, this moments of recognition where very valuable for me. I doubt if a pay rise would have had the same effect.

Even better. I remember when my boss ran through my office, stopped at my desk for a moment, said: ‘You get 500 hundred bucks more from now on’, and walked further to the next cubicle after I just said: ‘OK, thanks.’

Of course this was more than nice and I honestly wish that nowadays someone would stop by to announce something like that, but this recognitions were very powerful and really motivating for me. It’s a tangible result of your efforts to do what you like and what you good at.
Because I know how good recognition feels, I made a habit of it to give it to others as well. Very important is that it has to be genuine. I would never give it if I don’t mean it. Wouldn’t that be worthless for the other person?

Today I logged into my account on istockphoto.com because I was looking for some material for a project I’m working on together with Ilaria. It was long ago that I logged into this account and I was surprised that I had a message in my in box there. Normally I got all the messages via my email account, so I was curious.
It was a very nice surprise to read, because it was a thank-you-message from the British photographer Chris Schmidt. I wrote a review on his photographs longer than a year ago and I praised his great work. I had bought two of his pictures for the front and back cover of my book LOSER. Of course I also mentioned him in the editorial of the book back then. He was very pleased to see his work as a book cover. He wanted to purchase one and I offered him one as a gift.

You see, I dare say that my honest recognition of his work made Chris happy. In return I was very happy with his reaction a year or so later and all this positivity. You may think it’s naive, but I think it’s just great and I enjoy it.

It’s a tiny little thing that made me happy today. The fantastic thing on making others happy is the fact that you will get it back. So, what are you doing? A little tip: start with a smile! (I come back on this)

Bless you,
Mario