» Make Someone Feel Appreciated Today

A little while ago I started doing some proof reading for Project Gutenberg, an organization that takes out of copyright publications and makes them available to the public for free. It’s a long process that involves several stages of proofing and preparing the texts, and it’s all done by volunteers.

The final part of the process is called ‘Smooth Reading’. Here you’re asked to read a finished text just as you would a normal book, but staying alert for any remaining typos, or anything that affects the flow of your reading. Anything you find is fed back and addressed before the final text is released on the site.

A couple of weeks ago I submitted my feedback on a novel, thinking nothing more of it – job completed.

Yesterday when I logged onto the site I had a new message, which was about my feedback. The message thanked me for my efforts, and told me that I’d found errors that hadn’t been picked up by anyone else. The emoticon I’ve pictured here was included, whizzing around waving ‘thank you’ at me.

Small gestures create big ripples

Just a few lines in total, but it really made me smile. And it made me feel good. So good, in fact, that it gave me the resolve I needed to finish another smooth reading project, one that I’d almost given up on (my first action was to retrieve it from the trash can!).

All this from someone I’ve never met and may rarely encounter.

It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to make someone feel good. A smile, a hug, a ‘thank you’ can go a long way. That simple action could be the catalyst that gets someone back on track, that changes a negative into a real positive. Like ripples from a pebble tossed in a still pool, you don’t quite know where it will end.

Try it today …

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