When cooperating with others, people seek to be perceived as positive. It is nowadays something that is almost expected, to an extent that it has become difficult to live up to it.

There is such an abundance of positivity that it has become an overused currency. It’s simple, when everything is extraordinary or awesome, nothing is anymore. Calling everything awesome levels things out and nothing can stand out as awesome anymore, lost as it is in the sea of awesomeness.

Beyond this, being positive is usually based on that person’s frame of reference. It is what they perceive as positive that they will name. In my experience, this often leads to people receiving a positive comment on their work that has nothing to do with how they perceive what they have done. Despite hearing positive things about themselves, people don’t feel seen.

Praise is a different approach. While it is positive, it doesn’t stop there. Praise provides the recipient with a sense that their effort has been seen and that it helped them progress. They experience praise as one that either describes how their next step can be one of growth or how the effort they made was contributing to their progress. Praise makes it visible that the person offering praise is interested in what the person receiving praise is achieving. It names how the person is working towards their goals and achieving progress.