The teams I’ve worked with have grown to know that when they are working with Janice, they’re also working with Past Janice. Past Janice can be one of my favorite people; she does so many things for Current Janice that make my life easier. But it wasn’t always that way. A few years ago, Past Janice wasn’t so considerate. She put things off. She didn’t leave me notes about the crazy or weird ways she solved problems. She focused on getting the task in front of her done as quickly as possible so she could go do the next one. In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. this week, I’m going to talk about how your past self is a different person, why thanking them is so important, and how doing so can help you become a better leader.
Past, Current, Future: Three Different People
When I refer to “Past Janice” as if she is a different person, I get funny looks. But she is a different person than Current Janice. Past Janice didn’t know what Current Janice knows. And Current Janice doesn’t know what Future Janice knows. Not to wax philosophical, but as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “A [wo]man cannot step into the same river twice, because it is not the same river, and [s]he is not the same [wo]man.” (Gender reference adjusted because I’m feeling a bit sassy and because I can.) Usually once I explain to people that I consider my past self an entirely different person, they understand what I mean and I’ve even had team members start to thank their past selves.
Why Thank Your Past Self
So why thank your past self? They can’t exactly hear you. People would argue with me that my past self doesn’t even know I’m thanking her. Except that’s the thing: She does. When I make a habit of thanking my past self, I know that the extra tasks I do matter. Someday, I will be grateful I put in a little extra effort to make my future self’s life easier. I know Future Me is grateful. And doing it out loud is like that little bit of extra acknowledgement. Saying it out loud definitely matters. Here are some examples of times I’ve recently thanked my past self for her extra effort:
- Opening up a ridiculously complicated spreadsheet. Those of you who read these articles regularly know I simply love a good spreadsheet. I love an afternoon with my music going, making a giant, color-coded bid evaluation between fourteen different suppliers or a savings calculation after a complicated e-auction. Super geeky moment, I love piano music with no words and David Lanz is one of my favorite artists for that purpose. I’m in the zone. Life is good. But someday I’m going to open that spreadsheet in a hurry and need something out of it and not remember anything about how I built it. When I first started working with complicated bid tabulations, I didn’t leave myself (or the poor category manager who takes over after me) any clues as to how to operate this ridiculous spreadsheet full of long formulas. One day I opened one of these spreadsheets and there was a tab at the bottom “How to use this Spreadsheet.” Hooray! I had absolutely no memory of building this analysis, it had several tabs and a bunch of colors, and I needed the information out of it quickly. I still remember loudly thanking Past Janice for doing that extra bit of work and building me a guide. After receiving an odd look from the cubicle resident across the aisle, I pulled out the info I needed and was on my way. The next time I was about to close a big, ugly spreadsheet, I remembered that moment and took an extra minute to build a “how to use this spreadsheet” guide.
- Sending notes with decisions made after a meeting. A colleague I’m working with on a big project called me earlier this week and asked how we had decided to handle a particular category for the client. I looked through the pages of my Franklin Planner and found no notes (Ugh. She’s usually the best, but sometimes Past Janice is the worst when she doesn’t write things down…). Then I searched through my email for the client contact name and the category. Huzzah! After our last meeting, Past Janice sent an absolutely lovely quick email summarizing our last meeting, the decision we made about that category, and what was needed for the next step to move forward. Thanks, Past Janice! I had absolutely no memory of writing that email. It probably took Past Janice 30 seconds to write, and I’m super glad she did. It was only a few weeks ago, but I already didn’t remember the details of what we decided.
- Putting something in a logical location. I’m still working on this one. I still have days when I see some object in a weird place and note it’s a weird place, but don’t take a moment to move it. It happens all the time at home when I take my shoes off and leave them somewhere strange, like under my sewing table, instead of taking them to my closet. I confess to not being very grateful to Past Janice when she noted something was weird and didn’t fix it. We’re working on it, so perhaps Future Janice can be happier.
Thanking my past self is part of positive self-talk. Research has shown that positive self-talk actually improves cognitive performance (makes you think better!) and increases self-respect. For me, the act of saying it out loud helps reinforce the action.
How Thanking Your Past Self Makes You a Better Leader
I can almost hear your skepticism. Why would thanking Past Me make me a better leader instead of simply making me sound a bit crazy? I have a few arguments for why I think thanking yourself out loud at work can make you a better leader:
- It shows vulnerability. Thanking Past Janice always does sound a bit odd when I do it. But if I’m the leader in the room, I’m trusting my team not to laugh at me (or being ok with them laughing at me anyway) and showing vulnerability. The great Brené Brown has famously argued, researched, and shown that vulnerable leaders are better leaders. Most of us are also way more worried about how others judge us than is warranted by the situation. Try it: look a little silly in front of your team now and then, it builds trust.
- It tells your team you appreciate their efforts. Research from the Harvard Business Review shows more than half of employees feel underappreciated at work. I have found that thanking my past self out loud increases how much I thank my team’s efforts and starts to generate a culture of gratitude. Make sure not to edge into “toxic gratitude” where you are thanking them perfunctorily or (even worse) sarcastically, but most of us could use a little more gratitude at work. Even if it’s from ourselves.
- It increases long-term thinking. When I know my future self will appreciate a little extra effort someday, it moves me into a space where I’m thinking long-term about the task I’m doing. That increases my work quality, aids in documentation for any eventual turnover in my job (it helps SO much when someone looking at one of my complicated spreadsheets gets a guide to how to use it), and helps me remember that my efforts are for more than just today’s task. The best leaders I’ve worked with are constantly thinking strategically and contemplating the long-term impact of every action.
So this Thanksgiving season, whether you celebrate or not, remember to express gratitude. And in that expression, don’t forget about thanking yourself. It feels awkward and odd at first, but soon feels natural and I find myself doing little things that I know I will appreciate in the future. Every little bit makes my Future Self that much happier.
If you would like to talk about your team and how you’re approaching long-term thinking, let’s chat. If you’d like to get these articles weekly straight to your inbox and never miss one, sign up for my newsletter.
My book, Transform Procurement: The Value of E-auctions is now available in ebook, paperback and hardcover format: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F79T6F25
