Is It Worth It?

Earlier today, a friend and former colleague of mine sent me a Twitter DM to ask me if I ever questioned myself for the hundreds of handwritten notes I had sent to people over the years. His second question was much more succinct. "Is it worth it?"

Is it worth it?

I had never thought about it before his message. I never had an agenda or a motive in my sending notes to colleagues, friends, and acquaintances over the years.

If I met someone for the first time and they made an impact, I would send them a note.

If someone won an award and earned a promotion, I would send them a note.

Sometimes I'd even send a note to wish them luck on the upcoming sport season. Or just because.

There was no rhyme or reason. I never kept track of who I sent notes to during my career. With the number of times I've ordered stationery, I'd imagine I've sent somewhere north of 300 handwritten notes over the years. I don't think that's a lot. At the start of this year, I even sent notes to some of the latest individuals who purchased a copy of my book because I was grateful that they wanted to spend their money on something I wrote.

Giving thanks can make you happier. It's scientifically proven. Monday's conversation comes on the heels of a less-than-positive exchange I had over the weekend about my first blog of the year (go figure). I was invited to participate in a former college SID Facebook Group where two guys decided to attack me and my past career. It was some of the same office bullying I endured in my final year while at Baylor.

Same song, different verse.

Ironically, after they told me I was ego-driven and only cared about myself, one of them was rather upset when I told him I didn't even know who he was. I’m sorry, but whose ego did you say was enlarged again? Why put so much focus on being an asshole when you have an opportunity to help someone else?

Going back to my Twitter DM exchange from earlier... What's the return on investment of writing notes to other people? I've never kept track of who acknowledges the notes I've sent over the years because my motivation is not acknowledgement for myself. It's acknowledgement for them. To let them know that someone is proud of them because I never heard it a lot growing up. My motivation is simply to be supportive of others even when people may not be supportive of me. There’s enough negativity in the world. Why add more to it?

Say I sent 300 notes. I have received roughly 75 over my career (I keep every note I've received). That's a 25% return. For me, it's not about getting 70-80 percent of people telling me “Thank You” for sending them a note. If I send 100 notes and one person said my words made a difference in their day, then that's enough.

As I've learned throughout the years, there are good people in the industry and there are shitty people in the industry. Some will acknowledge it, some won't. You do it because you're a good person (or you want to be a good person), not because you want them to acknowledge you doing a good deed.

If you lose everything tomorrow, do the important people in your life know how you felt? Have you told people "I'm proud of you" or sent the text you've been meaning to send?

Before you sit down and be a dick on Twitter or before you sit down and write that note to a friend or college, ask yourself one question...

Is it worth it?