Self Help 12 – Act of Random Kindness

In my book, Self Help: 12 Things You Can Do To Drastically Change Your Life (available here) I discussed the topic of changing the world, one act of random kindness at a time.

Now, no matter where you are at in life, you can perform this task because

A.  It doesn’t take money (all the time)

B.  It doesn’t take much time

C.  There is very little effort on your part.

That last one is a head scratcher.  But the truth is – No, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to change the world.

A.  It doesn’t take money.

An act of kindness doesn’t take money all the time.  Its pretty simple really.  When was the last time you:

Held the door for an elderly couple walking into the store?   And don’t get smart with me and talk about the time you cut in front of the elderly couple to “hold the door open” when the “door” was the automatic sliding door at WalMart.  Seriously.

When was the last time you, with a smile on your face, said to the cashier pumping your gas “hey, thank you so much!  I greatly appreciate that you pumped my gas this morning.”  Let’s be honest, before I took a step back, I wasn’t fully appreciating the fella pumping my gas at the gas station.  I would hand him my card, not look him in the eye to tell him what I needed, and would dive into an email or text message that I felt was more important than showing this guy some appreciation.  You want to see a drastic change?  Wow.

What I did was this – I decided to treat him like a human – which he is and should have been treated correctly the entire time, I know – and I saw a person change instantly just because I set the tone of that interaction with him.  Some people feel its not their responsibility to set the tone – I have to argue that point.  We all have a responsibility for the greater good of humanity.  If that means to make sure someone feels appreciated – and your the next man up in the social interaction – take a initiative and set the tone.  Yes, it is your responsibility.  Live at a higher level – not just at the level that “everyone else is living at”

Taking initiative doesnt take money – it takes character.

B.  It doesn’t take much time

The example above didn’t take long at all – I sat there getting gas.

Holding the door open for the elderly couple – didn’t take long.  Well, longer than it would if I held the door open for a young adult, but you get what I mean.

C.  There is very little effort on your part.

Now, I spent money this morning blessing someone, but it took very little effort on my part.  I was at a coffee shop and this older lady walked up behind me to get in line.  She started to grow frustrated with the new girl behind the counter trying to figure out the gift card system.  I only found this funny because, that older lady didnt realize I was turning around to give her the card.  The girls at the register didnt know either and were scrambling to please me when their machine was not responding to their requests to get the gift card.

They gave me the card and were really apologetic about the wait.  That is when I did something completely unexpected and turned to the lady behind me and said “I hope you enjoy your breakfast this morning – it is on me.”

The shock and awe in the faces of the people behind the counter and the old lady was incredible.  She was so appreciative she tracked me down to give me a hug and to just say “thank you.”

I can’t replace those moments.  I don’t know all the dynamics of what happened this morning – but I do know that the world changed for the better in that moment and it didnt take much time – and it sure was easy 🙂

For more great insight on how you can change the world, please pick up your copy of Self Help 12 by following the link here –

https://www.amazon.com/SELF-HELP-Things-Drastically-Improve-ebook/dp/B019NR0N5M/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1465911763&sr=8-2&keywords=self+help

Or simply clicking here!

Best regards!

Andrew G. Wright Sr.

andrewwrightguru.wix.com/lifechange