Please Do This One Thing on LinkedIn to Feel Good Today
We learned a great trick to do on LinkedIn to make your day bright and happy at our trauma AMA yesterday
I want to share with you a trick we learned yesterday at the Trauma AMA.
Half the call validated how our bad sleep, stomach issues, and irritability are all signs of the deep personal pain and actual trauma that comes from unplanned unemployment.
The other half focused on how to move out of trauma and find happiness in your life.
Tell someone they made you feel good
Clinical psychologist Dr. Anne Justus shared with us a simple trick that can reduce your stress levels and make you feel better almost immediately.
Telling someone that they made you feel good.
Yes, the very act of thinking of a positive memory, writing that memory down, and then sending it to the person who made your day, will make you (and them!) feel better.
Just thinking about who I will recommend is putting me in a good mood.
Please recommend one person on LinkedIn
When you watch this detailed video about LinkedIn profiles you will learn that recommendations don’t matter to the LinkedIn algorithm or recruiters.
LinkedIn recommendations do matter to humans.
I love seeing them on my profile. Today I am going to write recommendations on others’ profiles. All will be people I’ve worked with in the past, but yours can be a mix of personal and professional contacts.
The point here is to write at least one. The very act of writing it will make you feel better. It will also make the recipient feel great too. We all need a pick-me-up these days.
Here are five examples to follow
I’m going to write 5 because I am an overachiever. You only need to write 1.
What to write? Here are five examples of what you can write about. These are going to be actual recommendations I write to people today. I’ll space them out over the day, to keep me in a good mood all day long.
Yemi Megenasa - was an amazing colleague at USAID/Zambia. I’m going to say how much I liked working with her. She always included me on her projects, supported my initiatives, and gave me practical insights and advice. She made me feel like a valued team member.
Courtney Keene - was a wonderful peer at Deloitte. I’m going to write about her tireless efforts to promote African voices and local solutions in our programs and proposals. She always came up with interesting ideas I’d not thought about and my work was better for it.
Richard Stanley - was a co-worker at IntraHealth and is a Career Pivot subscriber. He was my donor-whisperer at IntraHealth. He always knew what the donor was going to work on next, and I used his thoughts to craft winning proposals every time. He’s also a skilled software developer - all who have strong opinions that I learn from (if not always agree with).
John Zoltner - was my boss at FHI 360. He made me feel special, important, valued. He supported my wild ideas and protected me from organizational infighting. I always knew he was there for me - professionally and personally. I’m not sure what else you can ask for in a boss.
Linda Raftree - my Wonder Twin. She and I have partnered on many, many things - all of them stronger and special because she is my better half. Where I have mercenary tendencies, Linda is a hard core humanitarian. She helps me see where I need to be more respectful, thoughtful, and a kinder person over all. A LinkedIn recommendation cannot do her support to me justice, but I will try today.
How to post a recommendation on LinkedIn
Obviously, you don’t need to do this on LinkedIn. You can write an email, an actual letter, or even make a phone call. I’m using LinkedIn here because I want to be public in my proclamations.
Go to your own Linkedin profile.
Scroll down to the Recommendations section at the bottom.
Click on the Plus sign and then “give a recommendation”
A popup dialogue box will appear
Put in the person’s name and choose their profile from the list
Pick the relationship you had with them and their role at the time
Write your recommendation - you have 3,000 characters but I only use around 500
Then hit send.
The recipient will get notified of your recommendation and have the option of adding it to their profile.
You will get the warm feeling of doing good, and a small endorphin high that will make your day.
What are you waiting for? Write a recommendation now!