A useful compliment can help someone recognize a strength they were using without naming it.

People are often blind to what they do well, because it comes easily and therefore seems to require nothing. Being told specifically what you did, and what it made possible, hands someone a name for a capability they had been using by accident. Once named, it can be chosen on purpose, which is the difference between a habit and a skill.

When you praise someone this week, describe the actual behavior and its effect rather than saying they were great. Tell them what you would call it. People remember the compliment that showed them something far longer than the one that merely felt nice.