Depending on the circumstance, how much we’ve achieved for our age can be a point of pride as well as a cause of shame.
We’re often interested in reading about the youngest billionaires, the successful child actors, and upcoming athletic prodigies. Humans have a fascination with those who achieve extraordinary results at a young age in varying domains. This fascination is perhaps built on our tendency to live vicariously through these successful young people.
A life in which one achieves success at a surprisingly young age is one which we perceive to be good. These people have seemingly figured it out while young, and have a whole lifetime to enjoy the fruits of their labor ahead.
Precisely because of this fascination with success whilst young, complimenting people on where they stand compared to others their age seems to be an effective compliment. This article is about complimenting people for successes they’ve achieved as it relates to others their age. It is written to serve as a reminder that age can be an effective factor to merge with everyday compliments.
This article by no means encourages you to bring up the topic of age if you feel that the situation doesn’t suite it. It simply hopes to shine light on the tendency for people to want to achieve favorable results before others their age do.
How to Use This Compliment, and Why It Works
We can all feel as if we’re, “ahead,” of others our age, no matter how old each one of us are. For instance, just as a young boy can be ahead of others his age in Math proficiency, so can a 40 year old with the number of properties she owns. Though you can simply compliment the 40 year old without mentioning her age, doing so can be a pleasant reminder that she’s ahead of other direct competitors of hers. You would serve to narrow down your compliment into a concentrated shot of motivation for the individual with whom you interact.
You can thereby use this form of compliment on people of all ages, if you select the correct successful trait to compliment them on. We’re all ahead of others our age in some aspect of life. As people get older, and turn into senior citizens, the compliment can be reversed (elderly performing “younger” than their elderly peers). The elderly can be ahead of others their age in using a computer for instance, or in being generally sharp and quick witted.
Coupling age (in a favorable light) with your compliments works well because it serves to make people stand out from the crowd. It uses a person’s age to amplify the effectiveness of a compliment in question; akin to a compliment performance enhancer. The act of telling someone that they’re ahead of others their age entices them to continue down the same road with perhaps a new motivator in mind.
Whilst feeling special compared to the rest, they’ll yearn to maintain that feeling going forward. It provides powerful motivation for the maintenance of continued success. As mentioned earlier, do not attempt to bring age into every compliment that you give. Simply keep this tendency for people to yearn to be ahead of others their age in mind. You can often make someone’s day with a well placed compliment which insinuates them to be ahead of their peers in some aspect of everyday life.