The compliment that fits precisely can feel warmer than exaggerated admiration.

Accuracy is more affecting than volume. Being told you are brilliant produces a brief pleasant nothing, while being told that the second paragraph did the work, or that you were patient with someone at exactly the moment it was hard, proves that you were watched. Exaggeration is easy to give and easy to discount; precision cannot be produced without attention.

Replace one general compliment this week with a specific observation. Name the thing, the moment, the detail. It takes slightly longer to think of, which is precisely why it means anything.