Cat lives with a thank you

There's Finnish proverb (Kissa kiitoksella elää) which translates to a "Cat lives with a thank you". And to be a Finnish proverb, it is actually a cynical one, stating that it's only the cats who live with a thank you and people need a lot more.

This proverb, or saying as we Finns call these, came to my mind when I visiting a potential customer few weeks ago. It was so called cold meeting, where a guy had promised to see us to hear more about offering. In the very beginning the guy started to tell who well our productization has been done. He really praised our productization so much, that I, as a humble Finn, didn't want to say I had made most of it.

That episode though was something that motivated me for many weeks. The thing I had worked for several weeks or months paid of and I got a thank you from someone, who had no motivation what so ever to flatter me.

This reminded me once more, that you can never tell too much about the thing you appreciate. It so easy to complain about things, but it's always harder to say thanks to the ones who would earn it.

I promise to give more positive feedback in the future. It helped my motivation for many weeks. Maybe it helps someone else too.

Written by +Henri Hämäläinen