Two little words that make a big difference.

Two little words to improve your life.

Did you know there are 2 little words that can improve your life? They certainly have improved my life and made my thoughts better. What are those two little words, you ask? They are:

Thank you.

You read that correctly. Expressing gratitude according to positive psychological research is associated with greater happiness. Even if you’re not living you’re dream life. I’m certainly not. Yet. And each day you wake up is another opportunity to work on achieving your goals.

Now I’m not saying each day you’ll have flowers and joy coming out of every pore on your body. (Even though that would be nice. But smooth seas don’t make a skilled sailor.)

According to a study done by two psychologists, Dr. Robert A Emmons of the University of California and Dr. Michael McCullough of the University of Miami. One group wrote about things they were grateful for that occurred during that week. The second group wrote about things that annoyed them. The third group wrote about things that affected them. After 10 weeks, those who wrote about what they were grateful for were more optimistic and felt better about their lives.

Employees that were told, “Thank you,” by their supervisors felt motivated to work harder. When university fundraiser were divided into two groups by researchers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the first group made calls the way they usually had. On a different day the second group was given a pep talk from the director of annual giving. Who told them she was grateful for their efforts. This resulted in the second group making 50% more calls than the group that didn’t get the prep talk.

Again, not saying we need to say Thank you to everyone you come across for every little thing they do for you, yet it is nice for someone to express and get some gratitude. Yes even for something small. Because that could be the only nice thing you hear or acknowledgement you get from other people.