Encouragement

If there is one thing we all can use in tough times is encouragement. After all, are we are all not human and want to know that we are important? (http://pathofaleader.blogspot.com/2010/02/entrepreneurship-leadership-and-feeling.html#more) For me, it is quite difficult to say “I’m doing such a good job – I better keep it up”… not to mention pat myself on the back and feel good about it. It’s almost like tickling yourself – go ahead, try it… I bet you can’t. Before I go any further, this is not to be confused with self-motivation. I can go on and on for years self-motivating myself into doing something that I like or feel is “right”. Anyone who has followed a passion or hobby knows of this quite well. As an example, for over 15 years I practically self-taught several pencil drawing techniques to the point where I can do decent portraits (not perfect, but nice). However, every once in a while, I need someone to tell me how good I am doing. A smile, a “wow”, anything that tells me that my effort paid off.

When people smile and/or thank you for your hard work…
It does feel good doesn’t it? Especially in the workplace. Some people do their work so well, they go unnoticed. There’s the other extreme where you don’t hear anything at all until “you know what” hits the fan and all you hear is negative feedback. It really shouldn’t be this way.

Encouragement is sometimes all we need to give us that extra boost. This is why, whenever I get a chance, I try to encourage others that I work with, and I do it without “strings attached”. That is, not to artificially “boost their egos” so that they like me. I don’t expect anything in return. I encourage because that’s how I wish to be treated. When I used to go to the gym daily (a while ago), there was nothing better than to hear a peer mentioning that you were looking better, or that you’ve lost weight. All that hard work paid off! What also felt great were peers asking me advice on workout routines and how to do certain exercises. I was more than happy to go over things I had read about, the logic and of course, I would always encourage.

What about in the case of the business owner who is doing his/her passion - How do you get any encouragement? I’ve been there. I may not be able to speak for all, but I feel my encouragement came from returning customers, increases in sales, customer compliments and new customers who heard how great our products were. I suppose if we all look at ourselves as entrepreneurs (http://pathofaleader.blogspot.com/2010/02/entrepreneurship-leadership-and-feeling.html#more) then our customer is “anyone” that we work with since we work for ourselves regardless. In that case, whenever it comes to business and work, most of our encouragement will come from our “customers”.