Usually we praise only to be praised.

A lot of admiration is issued in the expectation of a return. You compliment a colleague’s work and wait, and if nothing comes back the warmth cools faster than it should. This does not make praise worthless, but it explains why so much of it is exchanged between people who are roughly matched, and why genuine praise for someone who can do nothing for you is comparatively rare.

Give one piece of praise this week to a person who cannot return it and will not know how to. Be specific about what was good, expect nothing, and notice how different the giving feels when nothing is coming back.