Image: pyramids (maldivian style) courtesy of notsogoodphotography

A perfect life. A simple life. A life without mistakes?

If you’re like most people, you do your best to avoid mistakes. It is natural. Mistakes have consequences we dislike and we all  like to be comfortable.

What is the price we pay for that?

In life, there’s expensive mistakes and there’s cheap mistakes. According to Seth Godin’s recent article “A hierarchy of failure worth following” sometimes we should aim to make more mistakes.

Within a business context, he suggest that we should seek to fail more often when we are creating proposals than when we are developing prototypes than when we are presenting to senior executives than when we are interacting with customers than when we are delivering on past promises. Makes sense to me. A similar hierarchy can be applied to our personal lives (Want to try? Leave a comment here)

The importance of Seth’s article is that it opens our eyes to a simple reality: We mostly learn from our mistakes. If we are always doing our best to to avoid making mistakes, we slow the rate of learning. And a slower rate of learning means a slower rate of growth.

Yes, growth. That ultimate holy grail of modern life. Both the personal and the business type. How much would you be willing to pay to accelerate yours?

Here’s a small price to pay: spend 5 minutes NOW to reflect and get your priorities right. Choose a hierarchy (almost ANY hierarchy is better than NO hierarchy) of domains where you are more willing to fail than others; then act accordingly.

You’ll have a better life for it. I guarantee it.

Unless I am making a mistake in saying that

“We have an awful, awful reality right now. America, you’re at the top of your game: This is one of the most unhealthy countries in the world”. (…) We, the adults of this generation, have blessed our children with the destiny of a shorter life span than their own parents. Your child, will live a life ten years younger than you, because of the landscape of food we have built around him.” -Jamie Oliver, TED

(If you can’t see the video ABOVE, please click here to see it at TED.com)

Do you think that we’re ok because we don’t live in America?Think again. The obesity epidemic has no boundaries, and has spread to almost every corner of the Globe. The financial cost to our health system and the social cost in lost lives from this epidemic is now officially larger than that of smoking, homicide, or violent crime.And how did we get here? Because of the food-scape effect. Want to know what that is? Read on.

If you follow the obesity debate internationally, you’ll find plenty of explanations for this new epidemic. According to Jamie Oliver, the food landscape (aka food-scape) we build around ourselves has a massive impact on our eating habits. We have created an environment that values convenience above all else. Why have we exposed so many generations to this set of values? We now live with the consequences: a new generation of quite literally millions of children who do not know or understand the importance of cooking at home, of making choices regarding your eating habits, nor of having a balanced diet.

And just as behavioural economics revolutionised our understanding of how financial systems work, behavioural psychology has also transformed our understanding of why we do what we do. In his best-seller book “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think” Dr Wansink shares empirical proof that our ‘table-scape’ (the way we set up food and dinner at the table) has a massive influence on whether we over-eat or not.

But should we make this debate a policy matter, or leave each individual to their own devices? Many in the food industry argue that the solution must come from individuals; that the choices people make about physical activity and eating habits are what led us to where we are; and that people need to take more responsibility for their actions, and start making more informed choices. Information, thus, appears as the almost magical solution. But as Dan and Cheap Heath argue in their best-seller “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die“, even the most powerful information will be ignored unless it is crafted in a way that is ’sticky’ and memorable. Furthermore, Dr Wansink’s social experiments have proven without a doubt that even the most well-informed of us still make unhealthy choices when faced with an environment that is not supportive.

Should we then rely on policy instead? The fact that governments have unsuccessfully tried to introduce policy solutions to this issue has often been argued as ‘proof’ that this is not a domain where government can effectively generate positive results. A few years ago, for example, Singapore introduced a ‘Trim & Fit’ state-sponsored program. Under this program, children had their Body-Mass-Index scores tested regularly; all students with BMIs above official guidelines would be enrolled in compulsory extra exercise classes for at least one hour a week. Can you believe that they were also to be formally and informally humiliated for being overweight or obese?By March 2007 the Singapore government had put an end to this program, “…after parents complained that overweight children were being singled out and teased” (Washington Post).

But the truth is that if it was an issue of individual choice, we would simply never have found ourselves in the dire situation we are in. We need to fund programs at the federal and local government level that teach children how to cook; that changes the food-scape we expose our children to; and that provides incentives (both financial and social) for adults that provide an environment that encourages our children to be active, make good good choices, and to develop the habits that will give us back a generation with a longer life-span than hours.

The solution isn’t either policy or information or environment. It must include all three of them! Ask yourself when was the last time you made a real and sustainable change in your life; were you determined to make different choices? How about the environment you created around you: did you design it so that it would support yourself through this change in a healthy and positive way, in a relaxed and easy manner? And what about policy? Did you create new rules that were flexible enough to be bent, yet strong enough to provide guidance and direction?

The solution must come from the holy trinity of ourselves, our environment and our governments. Pick one, and do something about improving it. Which one is yours?

If you think I have been drinking too much of my own Kool-aid, please come tell us at my blog on crazycolombian.com/foodscape; we’d love to hear from you!

Image: "Day 294 / 365 - Rose Cottage" courtesy of xJasonRogersx

Today I woke up and read an article by my friend, mentor and thought leader Steven di Pietro. He is world class in customer service, and has started sharing his wisdom on how to turn Customer Service into profits by changing staff behaviour  at his web site Service with Purpose.

So I was reading his article today, where he simply shares why he bought his Mac. And I thought WOW! He just sold me a new Macbook! I wonder if he realised he was doing that? He probably isn’t even aware of it, let alone getting commission on a sale that is worth over a thousand dollars!

After leaving a comment to encourage him to turn this single event into an idea that could add a new honest and transparent revenue stream to his life, it got me pondering…. why was a simple message so powerful in convincing me to replace my perfectly good MacBook for a new one, and get thousands of dollars worse off in the process? This article attempts to share my insights with you when I answered that question.

The first reason his article was so powerful is because he totally meant every word of the article when he wrote it. It came from the heart. He didn’t write it to make a sale (although I hope he finds a way to!), and he didn’t write it to be popular (although I hope his blog becomes the next-best-thing since slice bread). He wrote it because he found a product so remarkable that solved his problem so efficiently and beautifully, he wast literally inspired to write about it.

Now think about how ads are written. They are often written by overworked creative types who have been forced into a process to deliver by a certain deadline something to help a client sell. The good ones have a good process, know (and love) their clients, and make great ads. Average ones just go through the motions and deliver the ‘goods’ un-whole-heartedly.

Another reason traditional ads don’t work is because they’re not scalable. You can’t write a small ad that costs you next to nothing, and see if it works. But you can try to serve others from your heart, put the message out there, see if it resonates with others, and then start to adjust little by little. In one case, you have a once-off large investment and the hope it will work. In the other, you have a tiny investment, and you have the permission of your audience to grow and evolve your message organically. One has profit at its’ heart, the other love.

Yes, love. I am talking about love and business. Sounds like an oxymoron? Not at all. Love is the killer app. Don’t believe me. Go read the book by Tim Sanders. In it, he eloquently makes the case far better than I ever could. Now go back and re-read this article. Use a yellow highlighter every time you find the words heart or love (hey! I meant on paper, not on the screen! Now go buy yourself a new Macbook to solve the problem you just created…. ) Are you surprised? I mentioned it so many times, and you maybe didn’t even notice.

You see, a life of love, of service to others, of doing what you love doing, of sharing your love with those around you (even if in the form of referals for their awesome products or services or articles) is a life worth living. We didn’t know that in the ’70s when mass media and broadcasting where the norm. But as social media grows, and teaches us that ’sharing is caring’ in a very fun, practical and easy way, well, magic starts to happen.

So go crazy today and stop advertising. Share what you love in the way that you love it. People will know you’re being authentic, and you will ’sell’ more of whatever you’re trying to sell (your products, your ideas, even yourself!) a lot more than if you use the traditional methods. Oh, and you will also enjoy the process a lot more.

Am I drinking my own Kool-Aid too often? Tell me what you think at twitter or in the space for comments below.

Image: silhouettes 2 courtesy of migueltexeira

As you would have seen from my Manifesto, I aim for excellence. Yet the more I strive to live by this principle, the more I realise that to achieve excellence I need to constantly make trade offs. Yes, I am finding that achieving excellence requires me to live my life using Pareto’s principle: that is, I am constantly having to identify (in every one and all areas of my life) the 20% of effort that delivers 80% of results, and try to spend most of my time in these twenty-percents.

Why? The reason is simple: There isn’t enough time in my days to achieve perfection in all the areas of my life I care to perform in. There are many areas of my life that I care about: family, work, health, personal growth, social connection, fun; and I have found that unless I choose only 1 or 2 of these, I can’t spend enough time to achieve perfection. Obviously, focusing on only a couple would lead to an unbalanced life, which would go against another of my values.

An so I must find the right trade-offs, which means I must accept imperfection.

How about you? Do you lose balance by striving for perfection? Or have you found a way to simplify your life enough and achieve balanced perfection in all of yoru priorities? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.

MAN·I·FES·TO

n. pl. man·i·fes·toes or man·i·fes·tos

A public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature.

intr.v. man·i·fes·toed, man·i·fes·to·ing, man·i·fes·toes

To issue such a declaration.

If you liked this article, please support the author by voting for the book-version of this manifesto, or check other similar articles:

• Zen connections: the power of photographic story-telling
• Can you tell a personal story in only 15 words?
• Want some wisdom? Have a Baci
  

Some time ago, I had a challenge: to tell my life story in 15 words. Ok, I cheated using pictures and quotes that represented the 15 words, but I upheld the spirit of the challenge.If you’re curious on the results, visit Zen and the art of photographic story telling (available in both English and Spanish).

Today, I decided to try again to tell a personal story in exactly 15 words. The results are in the image below.

How about you? Can you tell a personal story in exactly 15 words? Give it a shot and share it with us in the comments below.

Note: If you’ve been patiently waiting for the ‘Video of the month’ post, please accept my apologies for the delay. Unforeseen events have pushed out the date of that post. Next week I will be back with the next video of the month for your viewing pleasure. But now, let’s get on with an important reflection.

Image: Never grow old courtesy of who.log.why

Today I found that the Mother of a dear friend of mine passed away. I was sadenned by his loss, and amazed to see that he turned his story into a blog article to discuss the realities of euthanasia. Before you continue, I strongly recommend you read the article at Dan Millman’s blog. In case you don’t have the time to follow my recommendation, here are a couple of excerpts from his article:

My parents lived far from us but closer to my sister, who called me one evening to tell me that mom had taken sleeping pills and was unconscious.  Left alone, she would have quietly passed on. But even though she had a DNR (do-not-resuscitate) order in her Living Will, the facility was required to call the paramedics, who revived and intubated her and took her to a hospital.  I flew to Los Angeles to join my sister who was standing vigil at the hospital.  My mom’s first words to me were:  “I love you.”  Her second words were, “I want to die.”  Under the circumstances, we understood and respected her wishes. She had lived a good life until the past few years. Now she wanted to go.  She might have died quietly without the benign interference of those doing their duty to “help.”

We asked the doctor to remove the IV (intravenous) line that was hydrating her and helping to keep her alive.  Since my mom had been begging him to do the same, it was done.  She ceased taking any food or water.  Gradually, slowly, her kidneys and other systems began to shut down.  It took two weeks, with some medication to ease her passing, before she died.

Some say that suicide is a selfish act, even a cowardly one. But I don’t feel that way about my mom’s dying. It was her right and her choice. In some cases, the suicide of a parent, a child, a sister, a brother, a friend, can inflict bring great sorrow and psychological suffering to family or friends who grieve that loss. Our actions, even though they may seem to affect only us, touch others.

(…)

Let me reiterate and make clear:  Suicide to escape troubling thoughts or emotions (including depression) is a tragic waste of life.  Like dropping out of school too early.  But there are times, for purely physical reasons, as in the case of terminal, debilitating illness or other condition — that if someone has decided, after an extended course of deliberation (rather than on impulse) decided to end their life at a time of their choosing, others should honor (or at least accept) that choice.

As I finished reading Dan’s story I had tears in my eyes. He is, has been, and will always be my teacher. At a time like this, Dan reminded me through his actions why I have always followed his teachings to the best of my ability. Not only did he deal with the situation in an admirable way, he also chose to make his pain public because he believed his story could enrich the debate about Life Choices. He chose public good over privacy. And for that I decided to write a response to the article in his blog:

Dear Dan,

thank you for the generosity you displayed by sharing such a personal story with us, your peaceful warriors in training. As I read it, tears welled up in my eyes. Perhaps it was because I had just finished reading an email from my own Mum with some reflections on old-age and the fallibility of our heroes from younger days(I have transcribed the mail at the end for your readers). Perhaps it was because I could feel the pain and serenity with which you had to go through it all. Or perhaps it was because, once again, you showed us the way to deal with painful and difficult times by exercising our choice to act as peaceful warriors at heart.

As I read your story, I was reminded of many of the Universal Laws of Spirit, and of many of the lessons you’ve been teaching us through both your books and your seminars. I was comforted to see you and your Mum exercise the Law of Choices at such difficult times. I was inspired when I saw  the law of Action in practice as you chose how to act despite deep and conflictive emotions. I was brought to tears by your mastery of the Law of Compassion in supporting and loving your Mum through her final choice. But more than anything I was in awe of the power of training: through your behaviour in these difficult times, you reminded us all of what it really means to be a Peaceful Warrior: to exercise our power of choice and act in a calm, balanced, compassionate, and decisive manner even under the most troubling or most emotional circumstances.

Thank you for being my teacher. In these last lines I want to offer you my condolences for your loss, from the bottom of my heart, and say Thank You for sharing your sadness with the world in such a public manner. Thank you for inspiring us all to live more peaceful lives. If there was anything at all I could do to support you and your loved ones through this period, you know where to reach me.

With a sad heart and inspired soul,

Diego
The crazy  Colombian

***************
OUR PARENTS
**************
(A translation of a forwarded email powerpoint presentation,originally in Spanish)

Our Mothers and Fathers were the heroes of our earlier years. But we continue feeding these stereotypes until much later in life. Then one day Dad starts mumbling, talking of things without head or tail. Mum starts having trouble finishing sentences and remembering little (and big) things). And we ask ourselves – What happened to them, our heroes?

They reached old age. Yes, our parents are now officially old. And no one, absolutely no one (especially not them!) prepared us for this event.

It is such a big surprise! One day, out of the blue, the lose their gait, show their vulnerabilities and weaknesses in all their splendour, and acquire silly traits. They are sick and they are tired, and the time has come for them to stop looking after others and start being looked after. Their day has arrived, and now it is our turn to return the Tender Loving Care with which they spoiled us all these years.

It is a long road they have walked, and their experience has given them some unique yet universal wisdom. They share with us what they know, and what they don’t know, they make up. Long-term plans are a thing of the past, and now they devote all of their time to small and exciting adventures – like hiding from us and their doctors the unhealthy pleasures they’ve been forbidden to continue.

While this age is sometime difficult for them to deal with, it is much harder for us, for they remind us we’re never truly in control of our lives.

So let’s show them their efforts were worth it. Let’s show them their love and compassion founda new home inour hearts, and let’s carry out any and all actions we can to share our love with them. Let’s do as much as we can so that when tomorrow , when they no longer are with us, we can remember them with love; remember their smiles and forget the times we caused them to cry.

At the end of the day, our heroes of yesterday will forever be our heroes. Thank you Mum for the love you showered me with every day. Thank you Dad for the guidance you always gave me. Thank you, Mum & Dad, for being my heroes, forever. Thank you.

I hope Dan’s story, my response to it, and the article I transcribed will provide you with some food for thought. If you wanted to say ‘Thank You’ to either Dan or to your parents, I encourage yo to do so below in the comments section of this article.

Image:adaptation of Waking up to change courtesy of seanmcgrath

Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present
- Albert Camus

Welcome to the last of four installments in this article series . If you’re new to it, you might want to head back to our first one and start from the beginning. The ‘Fish! Series’ explains in detail the four basic principles of the Fish! philosophy, and how adopting them can help you have a happier life. Today, we will discuss the fourth and last principle: Be Present. I hope you enjoy it.

Principle # 4 – Be present

Being present means not spending time brooding over past events or worrying over potential future events. You should instead focus your attention in the present moment. In the context of the Fish! philosophy, Being Present means devoting your undivided attention to the person in whose company you are with. In this article, I will extend this definition to paying attention to tasks, people or moments.

This means that Being Present is…

… turning off the TV when your partner asks you an important question so that you can really listen to her and engage in the conversation

… asking  “can you please wait 2 minutes while I finish this so that I can pay attention” to your colleague who just dropped in and started talking to you as you were in the middle of writing an important email

… Closing your email while you are in that boring teleconference, so that any email you write gets the attention it deserves; this way you can also fully engage in the conversation happening over the phone

… Focusing your attention in what you’re doing while washing the dishes rather than daydream so that you can make sure you don’t miss that morsel of food that is stuck under the plate

… Creating the right time, environment and ambience to engage in daydreaming and creating a vision for the life you want to have rather than doing it while you’re driving so that the quality of your dreams is high (and avoid having a car accident!)

On the other hand, being present is not…

… Always turning the TV off because someone asked you a question at home. Instead, ask them to wait for a commercial break, or check if it is truly important.

… Assuming every email you are writing is more important than the issue your colleague was asking about when you told her “Don’t hassle me – can’t you see I’m busy?” Be present instead by waiting for an  answer to your question ‘Can you wait 5 minutes while I finish this?‘  and then making an informed decision on who / what should have your attention at that moment.

… Allowing others to determine who, when, and for how long gets your undivided attention by automatically accepting every meeting invite you receive. Start making a conscious decision about which activities benefit the most from your involvement, and shape your calendar to including  more of those. When an invite is not in your ‘Yes’ list, then develop an assertive and effective way to say ‘No’.

… Saying you can’t wash the dishes – ever – because you aren’t good at concentrating while doing them. Why not take to heart the challenge of improving your focusing skills, and embark in a competition against your ‘personal best‘ instead?

… Thinking only about you and your need for ‘daydreaming time’ to the detriment of others around you. Instead, make time for each task, and choose to Be Present in the moment because (as Dan Millman has famously said) there are No Ordinary Moments.

As you can see, Being Present requires mindfulness,  respect and compassion for others, and  choosing an attitude of “I am in charge of what I give my own time and attention to“.

What does it take to Be Present?

Being present is both incredibly easy to do once, and almost impossible to do all the time. Our world is full of distractions and multitasking-enabling technologies, so our ability to Be Present is constantly under siege. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Here’s some ideas on how you can Be More Present:

1. Choose your attitude. Being present requires an understanding that You, and only You, are in control of where your attention is directed. Choosing the attitude of “I am in control of where I focus my attention” allows you to decide Who/What are you going to Be Present for.
2. Make a habit of choosing. Develop the habit of making a conscious choice about who/what will receive your attitude on any given moment. To encourage you to do this, try to reflect on the following question throughout your day: Who/What am I choosing to give my undivided attention to right now?
3. Practice meditation. Being present while doing things is a simple extension of the practice of mindfulness that we engage in while meditating. Practice meditation, and Being present will become easier.
4. Understand the Law of Action. As explained In Dan Millman’s book The Laws of Spirit, “Doing leads to understanding and action turns knowledge into wisdom“. It is only through your choices in every day life will you acquire the wisdom to practice develop the habit of Being Present.
5. Go for a walking meditation. As explained above, practicing meditation helps you be more mindful and enables you to more clearly see the choices you make. Why not extend the practice of meditating while resting with your eyes closed into something you do while walking? In this show from Radio National you can listen to a program that describes why and how to go for a walking meditation.

Why Being Present?

Not long ago I would try to multi-task all the time; You know the drill: Try to complete some house chores while your partner is trying to talk to you about something important, and at the same time keep an eye on the kids to make sure they’re safe. Over time I have learned that by trying to do too many things at once, I was doing neither of them particularly well. On the  other hand, giving my undivided attention to one thing at a time has led to much better outcomes. Such is the power of focus.

When you give your undivided attention to someone you send a very simple yet powerful message to that person: You matter to me. I care. I’m all yours. Do this often enough, and the quality of your relationships will skyrocket.

Giving your undivided attention to a task sends the Universe a vital message: I strive for excellence in my outcomes. When you do this, the Law of Attraction will kick into action and enable you to get better results with less effort.

Focusing your undivided attention in the moment sends your subconscious an essential message: I am worth it. In today’s world of increasing eating and mental disabilities, the development of self-confidence has become a goal in itself. But without a sense of self-worth, self-confidence simply can not be attained. By paying attention to every moment, you are reaffirming your sense of self-worth, and paving the road to a more balanced and happy life.

Develop the habit of Being Present for other people, for the tasks you carry out, and for every moment in your life, and your relationships will thrive, you will be more successful, and you will live a happier life. Does it sound a bit far-fetched? Perhaps; but I challenge you to try it for 30 days, and return to this article to share your results. Go on, take a dare and show us if you’re a mouse or a man.

Image: adaptation of margot the light courtesy of shoothead

If you’re new to this series, you may want to read our first article where we explain the four basic principles that are the basis of the Fish! philosophy, and how it can help you have a happier life. Today, we will discuss the third principle (Have Fun), explain why it is so important to discover “the child within”, and provide you with some ideas on how to do this in your daily life – even in the most serious environment of all:At work.

Principle # 3 – Have fun

In our early years, we learn everything through play. We also have a lot of fun in the process. Why is it then that as we grow older, we become so serious? The third principle discussed in the book is an encouragement to remember that fun & games play a critical role in life.

Playing can inject some fun into your life at work and at home, and makes it easier to Choose your Attitude. When you have fun you are likely to take yourself less seriously, reduce stress, and have a better perspective in the challenges that life throws at you.

Whatever you do, make sure your effort to introduce more play in your life is carried on into your workplace. Play at work can lead to a more successful career, better engagement with your colleagues and your daily tasks, and increased innovation and productivity. The fishermen at the Pike Place Market in Seattle have made Play a way of doing business; in the process, they have created a workplace where employees are motivated and customers are engaged to the fullest. Other successful businesses have encouraged a playful attitude at work as a way to foster creativity and innovation, including Google, Electric Works, Red Bull, and many others.

To introduce Play at work you don’t need lots of money or a risky attitude (although the latter can certainly help, as this video of a flight attendant doing the pre-flight announcement as a rapper demonstrates). A dart-board or a few juggling balls are great starting points. How can you identify the props that will promote play at your workplace? Simply get together with your colleagues and decide whether to transform recycling paper into paper planes or make a collection to buy a foosball table or an electric train. When you discuss this idea with your colleagues, start by asking how can you all make the day less serious; I guarantee you will all come up with wonderful ideas.

In short, if you want to have a better, more fulfilled and relaxed life all you need to do is have some Playful Fun. And as the video below shows, sometimes all it take is a little dance.

Links

• Happy hour is 9 to 5 – a great book about happiness at work
• Authentic happiness – the official page of Dr Martin Seligman, the most prominent promoter of positive psychology
• Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo. – a video that shows the power of just a little dance

Image: adaptation of sometimes a hug is all what we need courtesy of kalandrakas

“Have you noticed (…) when you’re walking down the street (…) people don’t smile any more? They have lost the ability to smile!” – Jack Lalanne

If you’re new to this series, you may want to read our first article where we explain the four basic principles that are the basis of the Fish! philosophy, and how it can help you have a happier life. Today, we will discuss the second principle (Make someone’s day) and give you some simple ideas of how to do this on a daily basis, both at work and at home.

Principle # 2 – Make someone’s day

The second principle of the Fish! philosophy is really no secret: Actively and regularly exercising your Kindness muscles will lead to happier, healthier, better lives. Yes, there is a strong case for kindness and altruism. The best news is that this type of kindness does not require fat checkbooks or a life of deprivation and selfless sacrifices. No, we are talking about simple, ideally daily small and perhaps even random acts of kindness that make those around you feel appreciated.

This idea was not born out of naivety from do-goodies; Found first in the religious teachings of Buddha, Jesus, Mohamed and other leaders, today’s body of science has now proven the case for kindness. Recent academic studies in Positive Psychology by luminaries such as Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky from Stanford University confirm that “completing five acts of kindness every day has a significant and positive impact in our levels of positive emotion”, and leads to happier lives. Or as doctor Stephen Post and Jill Neimark proved in their recent book Why Good Things Happen to Good People, “when we give of ourselves, especially if we start young, everything from life-satisfaction to self-realization and physical health is significantly affected. Mortality is delayed. Depression is reduced. Well-being and good fortune are increased.”

Making someone’s day on a daily basis

Making someone’s day does not usually take a lot of effort, energy or money. Sure, spending large amounts of any of those can make a big difference to the impact you have through good deeds; unfortunately, most of us get easily confused by this fact, and assume that unless we set out to really make a big difference, it is all a waste of effort. I have good news for you: it isn’t.

At work, the easiest way to make someone’s day is to think about who has made your work easier or better lately, and then go and say Thank You. Yes, these words have a lot of power when they are said from the heart. And with just a little more effort, you can double its power. Our over-reliance in electronic communications has meant that the art of writing is becoming an ancient practice; use this well known fact to your advantage and write a Thank you note with pen and paper. I guarantee the recipient will not forget your gesture!

There are many other ways of giving on a daily basis, without having to spend a lot of time or energy on them:

1. Smile & Listen: As you meet people in the corridor, kitchen, or water cooler, choose one moment a day when you give your undivided attention to the person you are meeting, Smile at them, ask them how they are, and then listen. Many of us give out ‘How are yous’ without even waiting to hear the answer; make someone’s day by giving them 5 minutes of your time and actually listening to their stories.
2. Teach them how to fish rather than giving them the fish they ask for. As people come to you for help, choose instances where you can extend their skills by coaching them on how to do what they asked you about rather than simply doing it for them.
3. Offer a shoulder to lean on. Do you see someone who needs moral support? Perhaps the stress of it all is too much, or they look like they could use 5 minutes of respite; offer emotional and moral support to someone who is going through a difficult time. You’ll be surprised at the difference that you can make simply by saying “I am here to listen if you need me” to someone in distress.
4. Give someone a ride. If you’re at a business function, keep an eye out for those without transport and offer them a ride home, especially if it means only a small detour from your planned return trip. To you it may represent another 5 minutes of your day, but it may save an hour or more of travel time for the other person.
5. Give discount vouchers to those who will enjoy them. Have you ever noticed the vouchers at the back of your shopping dockets? Take a minute to cut a few of them out, and keep an eye for people at work or elsewhere that may need them or enjoy them. Even better, buy an Entertainment Book and carry some vouchers with you to give away randomly to people you meet at the shops, the supermarket,etc.

Once you get started using these ideas, and start getting ‘In the zone’ of making someone’s day on a regular basis, I recommend you read this article that will help you turn that habit into a daily routine. And if you really want to make a bigger difference in the world, then make sure you ask people to Pass the kindness Forward if they ever ask how they can pay you back for your generosity. With these simple words, you can create a snowball of kindness that will leave a path of smiles along the way.