Thank-yous come back around. People remember who noticed them.

Being noticed is rarer than being helped, and people keep a quiet record of who managed it. A thank-you that names the specific thing someone did lands differently from a general one, and it tends to stay with them for years. None of this is a transaction. People simply lean toward whoever made them feel visible.

Send one message this week to somebody who would not expect it: a teacher, a coworker, the person who covered your shift. Say what they did, not just thanks. Then leave it there without waiting around for a reply.