Latest / Daily Influence / 794. The Art of Thank You: How Gratitude Builds Stronger Relationships with Erica Di Bona

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794. The Art of Thank You: How Gratitude Builds Stronger Relationships with Erica Di Bona · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
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• 0:27
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• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, I'm Greg Plano.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Before we dive in, I want to share a quick note.
• 0:53
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• 1:05
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• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now let's move into today's conversation, where we'll continue exploring the ideas, actions and influence that helps us lead and live with greater influence.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today I'm excited to welcome Erica Gerard DiBona.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: author of a letter is better.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: The art of thank you.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fundraising consultant, speaker, and passionate advocate for reviving one of the most overlooked forms of influence, gratitude.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: In a world dominated by text, emails, and social media, Erica has dedicated herself to creating meaningful connections through handwritten and typed thank you letters.
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: sending more than a thousand each year.
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Her work demonstrates that influence isn't always about grand gestures or large audiences, sometimes as about making one person feel seen, valued, and appreciated, which is so in line with what we say here at daily influence.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today we'll explore how gratitude can become a leadership tool, a relationship builder, and a practical habit that creates lasting impact in both our personal and professional lives.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Erica, welcome to Daily Influence.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you very much.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: You said everything perfectly.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: I should just copy that and paste.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, Erica, you've built an extraordinary practice around something many people view is a simple thing, you know, yet you've turned it into a powerful way of building relationships and creating opportunities.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Looking back, what experiences are influences in your life helped shape your belief that gratitude expressed intentionally can change lives?
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: I would say my first experience was when I was in first grade and I was the Cuban missile crisis that was back in 62 maybe and I was seven and we were all learning duck and cover under our
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And my mother's saying, it's over, the president has solved the problem.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're not going to have missiles raining through the air.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: We don't have to get a bomb shelter.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was so relieved that my mother said, well, you could write the president.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I thank you, letter.
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I, and she was very political.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: She was a big one for writing letters in community.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I said, OK, so I didn't think about.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: I said it off with my mom and about a month later, I came home from school.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: And she was waving a white-on to help and I said, white house in the upper left corner.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: and it was a letter from the president and his picture signed and i put that up near my bed so i looked at it at night before i went to sleep and in the morning when i woke up at the meaning for me was that i was a little first grader and i could have a voice i could write the president and he would write meat back and i was very shy i wasn't talking a lot to a lot of kids but i felt i had a voice when i wrote something so i believe that was the
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: overlying gesture for me that made me feel I had confidence when I wrote something.
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's always been overcoming shyness by writing something and it's direct, but you don't have to really talk to the person, but you get major response often for that.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, what a positive influence.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that and that foundation of gratitude clearly becomes more than a habit.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: It became a way of influencing others.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: It did.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: I started with a pen.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: I had a pen pill relationship with my grandfather.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: His entire life right around that time I started and every week we wrote back and forth and in fact I just went up to see his my mother's house a few weeks ago and I was doing interview and Seattle and I knew the address by heart 63 22 21st Avenue North East because I'd written so many times and I went back to her house and there it was.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: And there was the mailbox that I remember my grandfather running out to check many times a day.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'd vowed, I want to fill his mailbox with something and I think is that feeling of sending a letter and knowing you're sending out a little bit of love or appreciation or awareness.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then maybe getting something back.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't have to be a two-way street, but it's often very fun when something does come.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think there's so much that's been lost in people just
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've printed out a few emails and they just serve dead on my table afterwards and I don't see any in your back on behind you either.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're just the same as a real piece of paper that you can open and look at and touch because it shows it's a heart and a hand connection I think when somebody writes or types or puts it on their computer, they took a moment to process it and to think about you and to think of their message.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is so true.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you share a specific story where a thank you letter created and unexpected outcome or a meaningful connection and what that experience taught you about this ripple effect of positive influence?
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have always send letters without any expectation of response.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then finally I had a writing teacher said you should start maybe keeping copies of it because people keep your letters They have ericophiles.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: They framed them.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: They put them up on their bulls and boards You're not you're not really honoring it the way you should but not very many people can write Thank you's very easily and you maybe you have something there.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: You should think about helping teach others So one of the thanks use that I wrote was to a couple that invited us to a Looks like a very fancy party
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: My husband produces America's funniest videos.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: So his camera was on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and then they asked us to be involved with the Smithsonian and get people in Los Angeles to know about it.
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: So
• 6:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: was going to be as first meeting as an official board member and we couldn't go and it came this is came on very fancy like airmays orange stationary very thick cart stock and I know paper I was like oh this is an expensive card and I didn't want to just write an email back sorry we can't go so I wrote them thank you but we cannot attend.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: to give her understanding.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: I knew she was putting a lot of effort into this.
• 7:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is going to be a very high end party that she was putting together.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I wrote that, send it off.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: didn't think anything more of it about a year later.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: This woman comes running up to me at a Smithsonian event.
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're the one that wrote that letter, right?
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I didn't know who she, I am senior in person, right?
• 7:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just got her letter.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: She said, you're the one who wrote that letter that she couldn't attend.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yes, I did.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And she called her husband over Greg, look at this as Erica.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: But that was a year later, but because nobody else, I'm sure, had written a thanks, but we cannot attend letter.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can pretty much guarantee that.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's another instance where I try to think of ways that I can thank someone in a non-ordinary way, just thank you for the effort.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's all that we're trying to do is appreciate each other for that.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is such a great story.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing it.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And many listeners want to make a greater impact.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: But they're often not sure where to start.
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things I love about your work is that it's actionable.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: You teach a simple, me, you, us framework for writing meaningful, thank you notes.
• 8:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you walk us through that process and explain how someone can begin using it immediately to strengthen relationships at work at home or in their community?
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I sure can.
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: The key word I like to tell people they can start with for the me you and us is start themselves off with the word when for the me part.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: The first paragraph is all about me.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's my reaction to today's interview.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: My reaction to when I opened the door and the flowers that you sent came or my reaction when the cookies you made me, I got to taste at home.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: and I take myself back to that moment, often by using the word when.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like when I opened the package and I saw those cookies, I'd smell just like how my grandmother used to make them and I was so thrilled to know that we're starting that tradition again.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: The when also I don't give my, I give myself a rule, I don't wear the gift, I don't put it away, I don't eat it because if I do any of that,
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: it's gone and then it's also out of my head.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I try to keep it nearby and kind of marinated and wear possible so that I don't forget how I felt when that experience happened.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's the my reaction is the first part.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: The next paragraph is the you.
• 9:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: The you is it's really my thanks for being you.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's where I hope you'll find a fall a little bit in love with me.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: that it's really try to read between the lines of who I see you to be and I did a lot of interviews and television years and years so I can read the resume and sort of understand what's going on underneath the surface and I try to do that to understand who is this person that I'm having the interaction with and what can I draw out about them that I can see I can see that you on are the importance of thank you just from your bulletin board and from your messaging.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: and that we're aligned.
• 10:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so whatever I can come up with that I feel is genuine to say, it is important to do that so that we connect in that thanks for being you, paragraph.
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's the you.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then the us is taking us into the future together.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: I hope that we'll be able to
• 10:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: get together another time and continue talking about this because it's my favorite topic or whatever that is.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I end with a word thank you.
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't start with that because if I start with thanks, hello, you've already gotten a card sometimes to say thank you on the front and then you open it up and says thank you.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's boring.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: You've blown, you know, I've blown the lead.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why start with thank you, tease it to the end and say thank you at the end.
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that already makes it a little different than most people's thank you's it doesn't because I've gone so many letters to start with thank you like the okay I know this is a thank you so be creative turn it upside down a little bit and start with when if that's a good trigger word for you and then start end with thank you so me you and us be genuine as I said one of the
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: bad lessons for me in high school.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I like to boy in Zach and my father said, well, I don't know.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: What do I say to Zach?
• 11:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, everybody likes to be told he has a nice smile telling me as a nice smile.
• 11:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: I said, well, okay.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: My dad was very charming, so I figured he knew what he was doing.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I get to school.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's Zach and I say, oh, I just want to say,
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was thinking you have a really nice smile and he looked at me and he blushed and he opened his mouth and he had gone a full mouth of braces
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't a lie, but it was not accurate anymore.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it felt like the my words just felt clattering to the ground dead on a rival because it wasn't a real compliment.
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And he knew that, and I knew that, and then we're just starting their awkwardly.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that was, I think a big moment for me of realizing, don't say it if you don't know what to say.
• 12:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: don't make something up because it won't fly and it really won't.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And similarly, if you do come up with what's genuine, that really will hit somebody in the solar plant.
• 13:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because they'll understand that.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: That'll affect them.
• 13:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's a great story.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing it.
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, things are sharing the framework.
• 13:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: The framework makes it easier to take action.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: But consistency is where the real influence happens.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: In business today, people are constantly looking for ways to differentiate themselves.
• 13:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've often said that letter writing stands out in technical art.
• 13:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: For leaders, business owners, and professionals, what are some practical ways intentional gratitude can help build trust, credibility, and stronger professional relationships?
• 13:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I've spoken to the...
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Tumphary International Group is at realtors and I think there's many opportunities they can add a thank you when they first meet somebody who's willing to trust selling their family home.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank them at the beginning after the first meeting.
• 13:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Don't wait till the end to send them a coffee mug.
• 13:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Keep them thanked all along the way.
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've talked to dentist groups who are looking to get new clients and that's a chance to say thank you for trusting us.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, let's see, I've talked to development people at the Smithsonian, all the museum directors, and they need to, if you're in donor work and trying to get money from people, it's really important to let the donors feel thanked at a time in a timely way and stay with it, don't just thank them once and then drop them, and I think people get burnt out on how do I write a thank you or should I even bother?
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I say, yeah, you should bother.
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: It'll differentiate you.
• 14:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's also good for if you're looking for work to be hired.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: The friend of mine who's just passed recently Bob Glass was with Robert Half International, and he said we will hire people if they write us a thank you.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were just hiring for our own company.
• 15:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: In fact, and the person that got the job was the only person that wrote a thank you.
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I know Goldman Sachs and the financial industry requests that.
• 15:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've talked to a lot of students.
• 15:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're through a group with campcassum and this was the thing they were the most scared about graduating, but they didn't know they wanted to go into finance, but they didn't know how to write a thank you to the client so that's a building block of relationship assistance that people don't really take that seriously sometimes and it can it can really make a difference.
• 15:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's so true and, you know, of course, even the best habits can be difficult to maintain when life gets busy, you know, many people think I should send you a thank you note, but never actually do it, whether it's perfectionism, lack of time or fear of saying the wrong thing, what obstacles have you seen people face and what advice would you give someone who wants to build a consistent gratitude practice.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, thank you, named it the procrastination and the fear.
• 16:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think also people a lot of us hate our handwriting and they think, oh, we're supposed to handwrite this to be proper protocol mismaners.
• 16:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm saying, no, forget that.
• 16:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: We a lot of us don't even handwrite at all anymore.
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Children are not being taught that in a lot of states.
• 16:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: They don't know curse them or they know it very, very,
• 16:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Minimally, they get letters from the ground.
• 16:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Parents, it looks like hieroglyphics.
• 16:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Something forget it.
• 16:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: You don't have to handwrite, take that off the table, use the computer, find a font that you like.
• 16:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can get a five by seven paper that you have made with your name on it, or you can find colorful paper that you enjoy.
• 16:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't have to be a serious thing.
• 16:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it can be a font that you like.
• 16:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can one and a half space it.
• 16:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it doesn't,
• 16:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Look, just that, you know, small in the paper, underline a few words, but exo, exo.
• 16:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's very personalized.
• 16:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And people will forget.
• 16:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I also use these avery labels that you can use when you're like, again, Amazon package and trying to cover the address when you send it back.
• 17:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'll take that and I'll cut it and I'll put it into a card and write on that or print it out on that.
• 17:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I can make anything into a card or a letter.
• 17:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Or I can take a piece of paper and pull it out of a car.
• 17:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's just whatever you come up with and make sure happy.
• 17:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: The other thing is for instant response.
• 17:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you're trying to get a job, I tell people scan it.
• 17:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: and email it and then snail mail it.
• 17:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if I'm looking for a job, I don't want to get beat out by everybody else right after the interview.
• 17:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: I will scan, I'll type my letter on the computer, typewriter, whatever.
• 17:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'll scan it to you.
• 17:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I will also mail it in the snail mail.
• 17:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if you ignored my mail,
• 17:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: You may not, you'll have a harder time ignoring when the envelope shows up on your desk, and it's a double hit, so you're thinking of me twice.
• 18:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And there's no other candidate that's getting two times in front of you like that.
• 18:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I found that to be very effective.
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: It also can be long lasting.
• 18:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I once wrote a letter to
• 18:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: John Landcraft who was the head of Fox Studios and I think I was trying to see if I could help my daughter get a job and she was working there I was thanking him for something else he had done for her and I hadn't met him, but I also was trying to get through to his wife who was an actress and see if they and a alum from Santa Cruz and see if they would be donors.
• 18:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it was my little you know they elicit way to get through to her.
• 18:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I wrote him a letter, and nine months later, I got a letter back from him.
• 18:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And he said it had been sitting on his desk all that time.
• 18:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And later, his wife told me, if John gets a letter, he will always respond.
• 18:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: It may take a while, but he will.
• 18:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And guess what?
• 18:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then they gave a gift to the university.
• 18:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I cracked that coconut.
• 18:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't think anyone else was able to up to that point, but I think it was because they saw, I took the extra effort to reach out.
• 19:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: What a great story.
• 19:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's patience is a virtue.
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, better late than ever.
• 19:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it happened.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: My boss was there at the house.
• 19:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: That same day that came in.
• 19:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so that was very, very good points for me.
• 19:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: But oh, yeah, that had a point back.
• 19:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Nine months later.
• 19:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: So hey, that's great.
• 19:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and what's interesting is that gratitude often impacts the giver just as much as the receiver.
• 19:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've spoken about the emotional and personal benefits that come from expressing gratitude.
• 19:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: How is writing thousands of letters shaped your own mindset while being and perspective on life?
• 19:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that Oprah talked about gratitude as being an important driver in her life.
• 19:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: For me, the letter writing is also a form of gratitude.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: It sets me up.
• 19:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I try to send out a few letters in the morning before I get going or an article that's slipping from the newspaper because I do read a newspaper.
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a paper person, right?
• 20:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Or someone's horoscope is their birthday.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'll send that to them and scan it and also email mail.
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it gives me gratitude for where I am in the world and just thinking of other people,
• 20:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the other thing is, I think to get serious, my dad was a Holocaust survivor.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if we really drill down into what this is, I realized, I think it's my way of sending out a little bit of good against the hate and the evil that exists in the world.
• 20:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's my, I can't fight everything, but it's a little bit of light in the darkness.
• 20:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: And every time I do that, it makes me feel, okay, I did something.
• 20:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I can't do much, but I can continually do that.
• 20:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then the feedback I got is that it was important.
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: So just as you said, a little gesture can have ripple effect.
• 21:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that so much.
• 21:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the whole premise of our podcast is a little dose of positivity, Monday through Friday, to have a ripple effect around the world so that we can
• 21:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully, I'll become a little bit more positive.
• 21:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 21:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the Erica, as we begin to wrap up, I'd love to zoom out and look at the bigger picture.
• 21:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: If every listener committed to writing just one meaningful thank you note this week, what do you think could change?
• 21:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not only in their own lives, but in the families, workplaces and communities.
• 21:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well my sister I did a book signing my sister had her dear friend come down from Berkeley and the friend said I can tell you right now I hate writing letters.
• 21:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I hate my handwriting.
• 21:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not going to do it and she had a bad attitude.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: I said okay.
• 21:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, you know, have a glass of wine and just have a time.
• 21:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, the next day, my sister said, she, Kathy stayed overnight there and she was so liberated of things she didn't have to handwrite it herself that she could do it on a computer.
• 22:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: She sat down and she wrote four letters and she said, I realize and she wrote my leadership, this is how I can do things.
• 22:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: I felt hopeless and helpless in the environment that's going on politically and culturally but I felt like all of a sudden I could do something again and this is
• 22:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: freed me up and made me so much happier.
• 22:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't feel depressed and overwhelmed anymore.
• 22:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like I'm doing a small actionable item.
• 22:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's really made a difference in my mentality and my mood.
• 22:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, shit, so thank you so much for reminding me that I do have power.
• 22:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's through my words.
• 22:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's excellent, you know, Erica, thank you for reminding us that influence doesn't always come through a stage a title or social media following sometimes it arrives in an envelope a few thoughtful sentences.
• 22:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: and a simple act of making another person feel appreciated.
• 22:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the themes that we explore on daily influences is that every action creates an impact, whether we intend it or not.
• 23:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And these conversations such a powerful reminder that gratitude is one of the most accessible ways to positively influence the people around us near and far.
• 23:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Eric of our listeners want to get in touch with you.
• 23:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is the best way to do so?
• 23:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: The best way is I have a website called artofthankyou.com and I have a book that is on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and Ingram Spark called The Letters Better, the art of thank you with the typewriter on the on the press.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is my actual typewriter right here and so that's that's probably the best way to find me.
• 23:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Great.
• 23:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll put it that information to show notes.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Erica, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so grateful for you and the positive influence that you're having in so many.
• 23:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for doing what you're doing.
• 23:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're we're aligned for sure.
• 23:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate you.
• 23:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're doing it every day much more than I am, but thank you very much.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: you're welcome and thank you and to our listeners, thank you for joining us for another episode of Daily Influence.
• 24:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: As you leave this episode, I encourage you to think of one person who is made a difference in your life.
• 24:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't just think about them, reach out.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Send them a note, write them a letter, express the appreciation.
• 24:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: You never know how far a few sincere words might travel or how long their impact may last.
• 24:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Help us continue to spread the positivity by sharing this episode with your family, your friends, and those around you and subscribing so you don't miss an episode.
• 24:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Keep showing up, leading and growing one day at a time.
• 24:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive responsible influence.
• 24:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bye-bye.