As part of my year end wrap-up for 2018, I planned to send 50 thank yous out to folks who were part of my 2018. Over the holidays, I made this happen and happy to report everything’s hit the mail. Here’s how it worked:
- I got 50 cards made, featuring a picture of me speaking on the cover and the TIE logo on the back. Simple design, well-executed by Vistaprint.
- I used a spreadsheet to designate recipients, collect physical addresses, and assign a quote to each one.
- The “50” were a mix of clients, advisors, prospective clients, folks I didn’t end up working with, and some people who are genuinely supportive of my little venture. Having this mix made me reflect on what I am grateful for and what I can better notice or seek out throughout the year.
- I hand wrote a note to each person on the lower panel, thanking hem for a specific contribution to my success, and printed the quote on the upper panel.
- Each thank you was different, but followed a similar structure (here’s what this is, here’s my message to you, good luck w/ a specific thing in 2019). Most importantly to me there were no appeals to work together or what the person could do for me. Skipping that ask felt good and made the message more meaningful, in my view.
- While I like the idea of a year-end thank you, it’s time-consuming and methodical, so doing it monthly or weekly may be a better or just-as-good option. Daily seems overwhelming.
- One of the benefits of doing it year-end is that is revisits moments that may have otherwise faded with an immediate thank you. In a sense, you have another chance to reframe your memories, for yourself and perhaps for the other person.
Despite it being an extra complication to get physical addresses, this is absolutely not something I’d replace with digital. A few folks remarked how glad they were to receive this in handwriting.
I definitely recommend trying this project in a form that works for you. Just don’t cheat by using your holiday cards.
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