“Your blog post on Thank You notes changed my life.”
Last week I got an email that started with those words from Leo. I interviewed him later in the week for my upcoming e-book, The Power of Gratitude: Stories from the Frontlines of the Thank You Revolution, which will be released soon. This is an excerpt from that interview. The entire interview is amazing!
As a Thank You Revolution subscriber, you will get an early copy of the e-book, so be on the lookout for that.
Me: How and when did you first hear about the Thank You Revolution?
Leo: Jon Stolpe wrote a guest post on your blog and mentioned it on his. This was in December 2012. Only a month ago. I read it and immediately put everything into place you talk about. I might have even gone overboard. I became obsessed with writing thank you notes.
Me: I can think of worse things to be obsessed with.
Leo: Very true. But I would literally wake up in the morning and think of someone. I would be taking a shower and think of someone and have to write a note to remind me to write a note. I’d record them in the car, email myself reminders, and it got to the point where I make sure I carry notes with me everywhere.
Me: So what resulted from those first letters?
Leo: In the first few days, I knew that my wife had found three of them and the one I left on the fridge, so four total. She didn’t say anything until the fourth day. She told me how thankful she was for me working so hard and providing for the family, how proud of me she was for my recent promotion, how thankful she was that I was usually able to take off the entire weekend with the family, and how loved the letters made her feel.
Me: You mentioned in your email to me what has happened since Christmas. What does your family call itself now?
Leo: We call ourselves a Thank You Revolution family.
Me: I love it! Tell me what that looks like.
Leo: My wife began writing notes for me and the kids too. She also writes them for her parents, friends and even wrote one for our pastor and church leadership. She signed it from both of us thankfully.
Leo: We write notes and leave them everywhere. I find them in my lunch at work, my underwear drawer, even once in a sock. Honestly, that kind of hurt, but it was the thought that counts. Our kids find them tucked in books, highlighted words in books, taped inside their backpacks, everywhere we can think of each other. They even write them to each other!
Me: All in a three week span?
Leo: Exactly. It has, pardon the pun, revolutionized our family.
Me: And what about your work? What has the result been there?
Leo: It’s taking a little more time to catch on there but I did get two thank you notes right after the New Year thanking me for my help with the year-end inventory. One of my friends who works in the warehouse for our company was bemoaning that they had to work New Year’s Eve and Day to finish the inventory this year. I showed up both mornings at 5:00 A.M. to help. I got notes from him and his boss. Those are the first two handwritten notes I have ever gotten from colleagues.
Leo: And people are beginning to talk. I’m slowly becoming “Thank You Guy.” I think it’s going to catch on in our company. I sure hope it does!
Me: I do too and I am sure that it will.
In the full interview in the e-book, Leo shares a Thank You story involving his children that literally me cry. I can’t wait for you to read it!
Leo is just one more example of the power of expressed gratitude.
Your life can change to…and so can those of the ones you love and work with and worship with and simply interact with at any point in time.
Until next week,
Matt McWilliams
Matt McWilliams.com | Life. Leadership. Love. Learned the Hard Way
