The title is a play on words, from the 1971, Clint Eastwood movie, “Dirty Harry, “namely Harry Callahan, wherein the Quote was “Go ahead, make my day!”
Somewhere on any day, everyone has a need to have another human, help to make their day! The three initiatives I am going to highlight are GRATITUDE, EXAMPLES and COMPLIMENTS! They all cost you the provider nothing and only takes a moment! Go ahead, you have nothing to lose!
In life these days, we all need a positive gesture, verbal, physical or sent via social media and/or e mail! We have many factors both internal and external that cause us stress or even depression and almost everyone, without exception is a victim of negativity leading to the aforementioned!
First, let me relate to and explain the value of example setting that will MAKE SOMEONE’S DAY! The simple definition is to behave in a way that other people should copy.” People in management or leadership positions have the most opportunities to set examples that others would strive to follow or merely be inspired by the ostensible example! Albert Schweitzer said “A good example has twice the value of good advice!” A Personal example I chose to enact over and over, when I was in a top management position in a major US shoe chain, upon visiting stores unannounced, I encountered many times when the stores were excessively busy! I would simply sort out customers not yet serviced and attend to them! Most often these acts lead to sales! Upon returning to the home office in N.Y., invariably I would get thank you notes or simply stating how much that act meant to the manager and sales team! A good example is one of the best teaching tenets a leader or manager possesses if used at inopportune times!
- The next sequence MAKING SOMEONE’S DAY is asserting compliments, in particular to people least expecting a compliment and made to someone not familiar to the party offering the compliment! Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around, or in the least, make someone’s day!
There is always some personal physical attribute, or behavior worth complimenting! It takes a minute to assert and may literally make the day for the recipients of the compliment and the one extending the compliment feel extremely gratified in the case the recipient responds favorably! Retail or restaurant employees offering you a service are not well paid and a sincere compliment on their service, if deserved can make them feel good and important in the work they do! My wife, Barbi has literally made friends by complimenting people in retail, medical doctor staffs and pharmaceutical staffs by simply thanking them for what they do and how important they are to us personally! Their reactions are palpable and almost always received with a smile, and or a comment of thanks in return! I enjoy seeing the happy new players in our pickleball group when they play well are recognized for their alacrity to play.
Last, but not least is the expression of gratitude that most favorably will make someone’s day! It is so facile to express gratitude often and to countless others! Alan Cohen said it best, “Gratitude is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it becomes!” Giving thanks for everything in our lives especially to the countless people or God given blessings of life is an action verbal or otherwise to make our day along with the providers involved. To elevate the affect of gratitude, ask for the manager or supervisor of the OUTSTANDING associate involved and pass on your words of praise to the person in charge! By all means, that action increases the value of the person involved to the business or organization!
AS humans in good faith, we all have the God given ability to “MAKE SOMEONE’S DAY, find the time to exercise it as often as possible every day of your life, the reciprocal affect is you will feel consciously blessed each time you do it!
