I have never counted how many times I say “thank you” during a day, but it probably amounts to a couple of dozen. I say “thank you” to the person who holds the door open for me, “thank you” to the clerk who bags my groceries, and “thank you” to my wife when she tells me that I’m wearing my shirt backwards.
It’s good to express gratitude, even to people in your workplace who are getting paid to do whatever they’re doing (aside from checking Instagram on their phones). Gratitude can strengthen relationships within a workplace and, according to a new study, it begins at the top, with the boss expressing gratitude and subordinates soon doing the same.
The co-authors of the study, which was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, found that when a boss expresses gratitude, it cascades down throughout the organisation. Others start exhibiting “grateful attention,” meaning that they’re more aware about everything around them that they should be grateful about.
Meghan Kane, co-author of the study, explained “grateful attention” this way: “Imagine you’re at a meeting, and a coworker does something really helpful to you. If you didn’t receive gratitude the day before, maybe you wouldn’t notice the coworker was helping you. And now, you notice and that inspires you to go out of your way to express gratitude to them or other coworkers. You now notice more things and see the world differently, even though nothing has changed in your environment.”
Kane, assistant professor at Temple University in Pennsylvania, US, added, “We like to say you are now wearing ‘gratitude glasses.’”
Gratitude glasses. I like that phrase. Everyone needs to wear gratitude glasses and express thankfulness in many ways, including these:
- Thank God. Yes, it’s always good to thank God. When dozens of people on a cruise ship get sick from food poisoning, make sure you say, “Thank God I couldn’t afford to go on a vacation.” You should thank God at least once a week, and not just to say, “Thank God it’s Friday.”
- Thank goodness. If you don’t want to thank God, then at least thank goodness. When a truck runs a red light and crashes into the car in front of you, make sure you say, “Thank goodness I was running a little late today.”
- Thank heaven. If you can’t thank God or thank goodness, you should definitely thank heaven. If your favourite football team scores an equalizer in the 90th minute, feel free to shout, “Thank heaven.” And if the opposing team scores in extra time, feel free to say, “Thank hell.”
- Thank your parents. If your parents are typical parents, they’ve probably made a lot of sacrifices for you. They want the best for you, even if it means forgoing some of their personal desires. Make sure you express your gratitude to them by calling them at least once a week and saying, “Thank God I have good parents. Thank goodness you were always there for me. Thank heaven you’re still paying some of my bills.”
- Thank your landlord. If you are renting a home, make sure you send a note to your landlord, saying, “Thank you so much for not raising the rent on me. I really appreciate it. I am so grateful and always thank God that I have the best landlord in the world.” Expressing your gratitude is a good way to make sure that the landlord raises your neighbour’s rent, but not yours.
I’m going to try to be more thankful to the people around me. Let me start with you. Thank you for reading this. I appreciate it. And thank you for not complaining to the editor about anything I wrote.