Appreciate

I want to reflect on a word that has taken on an entirely new meaning for me in the last few days, and I’ll explain why. The word is “appreciate” and it has a few different definitions that all actually feed into each other.

Of course to start, to 'appreciate' is to be thankful for something but not just that. It’s to recognize the value of something. When you appreciate you acknowledge the blessings and circumstances of your life, and you are intentional about not taking things for granted. There’s a presence to it.

The other definition of 'appreciate' is to grow in value, like an investment. There’s a growth and increase that is indicative of the appreciation process and it usually only relates to positive things where there’s a benefit to having more of it.

This all ties together in the expression “What you appreciate, appreciates” which draws a direct correlation between gratitude and the amount of good things in your life. But the major realization I had relates more to a value exchange. 

Take a simple sales scenario. You’re selling something for $100 and someone else wants to buy it. That means that they see at least $100 worth of value in it, which makes the cost justifiable. Good transactions like that involve someone getting good value for what they invest, and this helped me realize that I want to be an appreciation machine. Yes, I want to be grateful, but also I want my core focus to be that everything I touch or am involved in delivers more value than I ask for in return. I want your 2 minutes of time reading this to be worth 10 minutes of knowledge, and I want every dollar I earn to facilitate $10 worth of value delivered.

With all of that in mind I’d love for you to think about where you can be an appreciation machine too, so I’ll ask this question - What is the most valuable thing you do for other people?‍

If you’re in the US or Canada, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day. 

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