Susan Kistler on Saying Thank You

My name is Susan Kistler and I contribute each Saturday’s AEA365 post. This week, I want to encourage you to say thank you.

Hot Tip: About a year ago, I began starting each workday by writing five quick “Thank you” emails. Now I don’t manage to do this every single day. Some days I do extra, and a few days I do none when there are other very pressing needs, but for the vast majority of days I sit and write and enjoy the moment. Sometimes, I welcome new members and thank them for joining AEA. Sometimes, I write to a volunteer who stepped to the plate and chipped in with a great idea or who gave so freely of her or his time. Sometimes I write to someone I have never met to say that I saw their comment or blog post and it made me think about my own work.

This task takes less than ten minutes each morning. Here are just a few things that have happened because of the Thank You project:

• I’ve had the opportunity to sincerely thank so many people – to ensure that they know that their contributions are valued and appreciated.
• Personally, I have so many things to be grateful for and routinizing thanking has helped me to start each day in a way that reminds me of the many, many positive contributors to my world.
• I’ve built relationships that have laid the foundation for collaboration.
• I’ve met, at least virtually, people I otherwise never would have. I have learned from them, expanded my worldview, and been made better for having encountered them.
• I’ve learned more about AEA’s members, their work, concerns, and achievements and this knowledge improves my practice and capacity to serve the association.

Thank you! Two things happened this past week related to aea365. First, we welcomed our 1000^th subscriber. Second, we had the largest single subscription jump in a day with over 120 new subscribers on September 29 (welcome!). For the first achievement, there are a few people who deserve extra thanks – John LaVelle who shepherded aea365 through its first six months, our current volunteer curating team lead by Michelle Baron, and the many many contributors who have shared a post in the past nine months. For the second of these, I’m not sure who to thank! Thank you to all of our new subscribers, but I am also pretty sure that someone shared information about aea365 in a newsletter or listserv on the 29^th, and I owe her or him very heartfelt thanks. Please send a note if you can shed light on this subject so that I may say ‘thank you’ where it is definitely due.