An Unexpected Gift

I received the most beautiful and unexpected gift yesterday.

It was the gift of positive feedback.

I was in a bit of a funk yesterday. Multiple and various reasons, some personal, some professional.

Towards the end of a day when I was feeling utterly unproductive and irrelevant, and beating myself up for both (a skill of which I have great mastery), I went to teach my weekly yoga class.

I was tired and didn’t really want to teach. Only one person had signed up in advance, and frankly I was hoping they wouldn’t show.

That person did show up. And so did four others.

And when one of them, a newer repeat student, walked in, he said, “I’m so happy to be here. I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”

I thanked him, but couldn’t begin to truly express how much that meant to me.

It meant my class, my teaching, my style, resonates enough with him to not only take an hour out of his day to get to his mat in my class, but to hold it as a highlight of his day.

Did I take that as positive feedback? I most certainly did. It shifted where my head was at.

We proceeded to have a fun and energetic class, where we laughed and sweated and played at the practice of yoga.

And I left renewed.

So here’s my ask of you as you head into the weekend: If there is someone in your life who has made things a little better, helped the day shine a little brighter, or given you something to look forward to, please let them know.

Give them some positive feedback. Tell them about the impact they’ve had, large or small.

Whether they’re having a good day or a bad day or an average day, I promise you will make their day.

I share a post a few times a year with this ask. Consider this your Q4 reminder.

With that in mind, I want to say 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 to a few of the people who have made my days brighter in the past week-ish. You’re all absolute gems of humans.
Paul Wyman
Claire Williams
Jill Hauwiller, MA
Holly Whitcomb
Erica Breuer
Loni J. Sabo
Jessie Wilton
Gayle Hayhurst

Hey there, I’m Cynthia. I’m a leadership team whisperer, executive coach, and speaker. I guide leadership teams in high-growth companies to achieve rapid growth in a healthy, sustainable way. I coach senior leaders to discover the path to lead with ease.

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