I was reading a post the other night by Todd Smith in his “Little Things Matter” blog. The post was about showing appreciation — having the “attitude of gratitude”, if you will. He wrote about the importance and benefits of doing it, but also had some good concrete steps to take in order to act on it. After all, it’s great to have appreciation in your heart, but with networking, it has its best effect when you show it.
You can read Todd’s post for his ideas on how to show it. The first step, though, will be to bring to mind all those people to whom you should be grateful. Make a “Gratitude List”. We’ll use it later. I started making mine tonight and within ten minutes had easily thirty people on the list. Here are some ideas that might help jumpstart yours.
- Spouse or significant other
- Parents (each or collectively)
- Spouse’s parents (they must have done a good job!)
- Siblings
- Friends
- Doctor
- Dentist
- Veterinarian
- Boss
- First boss
- Clients
- First client
- Person who gave you your first referral
- Person who gives you any referrals.
- Vendors
- Speakers you’ve seen
- Organizers of events you’ve attended
- Officers of groups you belong to
- Mentors
- Anyone else who has made your life easier.
