What is the duration of a compliment from someone who does not know your work?

When someone who does not know your work gives you a compliment, it's generally fleeting. Such compliments often arise from a casual or superficial interaction, lacking depth or context. As a result, they typically have a brief impact on the recipient. The idea is that a compliment from a stranger or someone less knowledgeable about your deeper contributions is often momentary, fading relatively quickly as they move on with their day.

This aligns best with the understanding that genuine recognition and appreciation from informed sources tend to have longer-lasting effects. In contrast, compliments from those unfamiliar with your work are often short-lived, amounting to a brief acknowledgment rather than a sustained recognition of value or achievement. This is why the duration of the compliment is most accurately described as lasting about an hour, encapsulating that moment of recognition before the engagement shifts elsewhere.