Kindness can change any situation, but who has time, right? I’m ashamed to say I’ve spent plenty of time being brusque, abrupt and not very kind, and quite frankly, I don’t feel very good afterwards. And as I’ve started making a concerted effort to do one small act of kindness a day, I find I feel incredibly inspired (yes I know, that’s selfish) but others are feeling better as well. And it’s easy! Kindness drives companies to be compassionate and engaged, and everything works better in the process. In Tony Hsieh’s book Delivering Happiness, he explained he didn’t worry about customer service for his Zappos’ employees, because he treated them with kindness and respect, and that took care of everything else.
Let me give you an example of how a tiny act of kindness spreads faster than butter on a hot Florida sidewalk. I was in New Orleans with my daughter, and we were waiting for a cable car. We thought it would be a fun experience, but realized we had to have the correct change. I was scrambling, pulling everything out of my purse as the cable car approached. Then a stranger– a woman who looked like she needed every penny she had and definitely wasn’t riding the car for entertainment as we were–said she had some money and how much did I need. I thanked her, found enough change in the bottom of my purse, and rated her small act of kindness as the very best part of my trip. I smiled all day when I thought of her.
What small acts of kindness can you do today? A compliment? An offer of help? Something else entirely? I can almost guarantee it will make your day, and is habit forming!
