It’s February, so we’re going to be seeing hearts everywhere for the next few weeks. Valentine’s Day is an excellent opportunity to sell/buy greeting cards, candy, and flowers. But the holiday doesn’t have to be limited to your sweetheart. Consider it an opportunity to show other people that you value them, too.
Not Just for Lovers
How often do you tell a co-worker that you appreciate them? Sure, you say please and thank you most of the time, but what about taking an extra step to tell someone how you can see that their contributions at work are valuable? Hopefully, bosses remember to do this periodically—it should be in the managerial handbook somewhere to recognize employees. But even co-workers can play a role in the positive feedback process. Do you remember that time when someone told you that they saw what you did and thought it was great? (Hopefully, someone has told you that at least once by now!) Didn’t it make you smile? Didn’t it make your workload just a little lighter for a while? Didn’t it make you feel like you really were part of a team and not simply strangers brought together to work in the same place? A few simple words can have a tremendous impact.
Show Them You Care
When I was young, Valentine’s Day was a big deal. In school, we would have a wall with decorated cereal boxes or some such thing, one with each student’s name so you had a place to deliver their Valentines. Each morning, a few kids would bring in a stack of those little envelopes and drop them into the boxes—while the other kids watched anxiously to see if they were on the receiving end of that day’s deliveries! I, of course, gave a card to every single person every year, not wanting anyone to feel left out. There was candy too—Lifesavers, SweeTarts, Tootsie Pops, bubble gum, and chocolate from the big spenders. Why don’t we share a smile and pass these out now that we’re adults? All of these tiny goodies are just waiting for us to buy them at every drug store, grocery store, super store, and gas station we visit for the next few weeks. Why don’t we take the time to tell the people in our daily lives that we care about them? Why don’t we use Valentine’s Day as the excuse we need to take a moment and recognize the people who add value to our lives?