Appreciation goes a long way

Motivation comes in all shapes and sizes. It could be an article, a picture, a co-worker, a team, a video, or even just a mood. As a web connoisseur (Ha!), I have at least a moderate list of things that motivate me to do good work. But today I only want to talk about one of them, and that’s appreciation.

I’m somewhat of a self-motivated individual, but that doesn’t mean I’m a robot, either. I just happen to love what I do, which helps. But until recently, I forgot how much being appreciated pushes me to do my absolute best work. It’s motivation in its finest form.

The theory: appreciation creates an imbalance, and the “victims” of appreciation try to correct that imbalance. It causes an attitude shift within a relationship, and generally for the better.

But without getting too deep, here, appreciation is flat-out rewarding. And in a world where everyone likes rewards, the outcome is quite positive. But if we leave utopia for a minute, we’re left with an unfortunate reality: talented people go to work everyday and aren’t appreciated.

As an example (and this is strictly an example), let’s say I designed 12 different sites, where each design took me 2-3 days to produce. Now, imagine if the 13th design took me 5 days! All of a sudden I’d be viewed as having a bad week, when in reality, the other 12 designs were completed within 3 days because I’m [hypothetically] good (and fast) at design.

The point is, once you start performing at a certain level it becomes expected. The “wow factor” is gone and the de facto gets set. And to some extent, that’s fair; but maybe not at the cost of being appreciated. That can quickly turn a great job into a stale place of diminishing rewards.

Appreciation keeps things moving. It keeps things fresh.

So, if you want the best results out of the people who are giving you results, then appreciate them (and their efforts). Trust me, it works.

Without dropping names or getting into the details, a few recent experiences have reminded me of how appreciation really does enhance motivation, which was the inspiration for this post. To those of you reading this, thanks!