I have two good articles in development for you guys – the first is a guest post from one of our members, and the second is something I recently learned, which I hope will help you on your own journey through life. But these aren’t quite ready, so today I’d like to share with you the latest project from our A-Team group.

First of all, I must admit that I stole the phrase “You’re Doing It Right” from Chris Brogan, who uses it all the time in his newsletters. But I love how he singles out people for recognition and praise, so I thought it fit perfectly with the mission from last week. This was our assignment:

Identify someone who’s “doing it right” in any area of their life, and find a way to let them know that you notice and appreciate it (even if what they’re doing doesn’t immediately affect you).

The goal here is to give them a personal touch of some kind that makes them feel cared for. Extra points if you can think of a creative (but still genuine) way to show your appreciation. For instance, my brother David is a really hard worker who’s always helping someone out, so maybe I could mow his lawn when he’s not home, and leave a note saying that I appreciate all the help he gives others. Something like that.

Following is a small sample of what some of our team members did:

A short story. A small payment of gratitude.

The sitter for my daughter spends more time caring for her than expected. She’s become a close friend to the family and one we can count on for matters outside of her responsibilities. I’ve noticed lately that she has very little time to care for what many might consider the smaller, simple things such as getting her car washed. So, my daughter and I surprised her by washing her car this past weekend while she was inside cooking. We even vacuumed the interior and shined her wheels. Her reaction was wonderful. All smiles and laughter of joy. She can’t stop thanking us even today. Truth be known we are more grateful for her being in our lives.

So there is this art teacher at our school, who is always there for her students, and opens her room to us any time we want to be there. I really couldn’t think of anyone who does more for other people. She is one of the advisers for our literary magazine, which I am a member of. A visiting artist was giving a presentation in another room, however, a letter to local businesses asking for advertisements had to be made up. I told her to go see the lecture, and I would write the letter and answer the phone should it ring. I had the letter printed out for her to review by the end of the period. I left on Friday without seeing her again, but I hope she got a good smile out of it.

This was a simple one for me: I drive the same way home from work every day, and part of the reason I go down a certain street and turn at a certain corner is that I admire the garden at that corner house so much. She has peonies, lilies, a whole blooming boulevard garden, etc.

The other day, I actually saw the home owner out working in the yard. I thought of the mission and stopped and parked the car. I got out and walked up to her and said, “I just wanted to stop to tell you how much I appreciate your garden. You do such a beautiful job with it.”

She was quite pleased, I think. She has lived in the house for forty-one years. To my surprise, she offered me seeds, since so many of the flowers in the boulevard garden have gone to seed now. I spent about twenty minutes talking to her, as she identified the various plants for me, and she gave me seeds for seven different varieties of flowers that I will be able to plant in a new garden bed I’m planning next year.

Mine was super small and probably helped me more than it did my recipient…

I’m a Work at Home Mom, so I’m not “out” much. 90% of my personal interaction is with my 4 year old.

This afternoon he was flinging himself up against things (the sliding glass door, the tables, his drawing easel) and then yelling “WHOOPS!”. After the third time telling him to stop, and getting more agitated, I saw the tweet on this weeks mission. Saw this post and turned around and complimented my son on his letter drawing (on the same easel he was just flinging himself into).

He smiled and said “Thank you, Mommy!”. He’s been quiet and behaved for the past 10 minutes – much needed as I finish up my work day!!

If you think that doing small little things like this to make a difference in people’s lives sounds like something you’d like to try, we’d love to have you on the team. Just put your name and email in the box below, and I’ll get you on the mailing list. No spam, no obnoxious selling. Just one email a week that will enable us to change the world – in only 15 minutes a week.

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