I have always liked words and dictionaries. These two words have meanings that are sometimes overlooked, so I turned to Wiktionary for some insight.

Encourage: to mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.

Appreciate: 1. (transitive) to be grateful or thankful for.
I appreciate your efforts

2. (transitive) to view as valuable.
You must learn to appreciate time

3. (transitive) to be fully conscious of; be aware of; detect.
To test the power of bees to appreciate color.

4. (transitive) to increase in value.
The value of his portfolio appreciated by 80% over eight years.

I am resolving to remember that a little bit of coaching (if it is critique or comes from being dissatisfied) goes a long way. One year after the performance review, most people can still tell you the suggestions for improvement but have long since forgotten the 5 (or more!) things they were judged to be doing well. Sometimes it just isn’t appropriate to hold back a negative view, but it also shouldn’t be a way of life. I am going to aim for at least 90% encouragement; to make my contacts feel encouragement as a jolt of courage. I am also going to see if I can’t practice all 4 variations of appreciation: I will be grateful for what people do; I will treat them as being valuable people; give them my full attention; and take satisfaction as their value increases over time.