Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

MattMacola · 04-02-2010, 04:37 PM

I love a challenge. So... for the next 30 days I'm going to be doing a fun little challenge for myself and I hope that writing about it here will keep me going for the full 30 days.

Starting tomorrow (for 30 days) I'm going to...

Do one random act of kindness to a stranger every day.
Make at least one person I know smile everyday

Hopefully this will help me be more kind, give more and move me totally out of my comfort zone. It'll be a fun little experiment anyway.

MattMacola · 04-03-2010, 09:22 PM

Now this is fun!! Totally enjoyed playing with random acts of kindness today and actually did a bunch of random things...

I bought an umberella for a homeless guy (it was raining). Successfully used to keep his home (a blanket) as well as himself dry for the day! I just thought this was something really fun to do. Usually I'd just walk past and ignore him but a post on these forums gave me this idea.

A guy I know has been building a website for weeks and has got no results from it at all so I spent an hour making a video showing him exactly what he can do to make a bunch of money from it. He was stoked. I'm kinda hoping he will turn things around now because that would just be soooooo awesome!

And finally I told a girl in an elevator that she had the most amazing color eyes. She was shocked and almost speachless... it was the funniest moment of my day.

So for the day I got three smiles + did three random acts of kindness. Sweet!

P.s. tomorrow I think I'm going to do something with animals... I just haven't decided exactly how yet.

jonwaller · 04-04-2010, 01:25 PM

This is fantastic! Good luck with it.

Moxie · 04-04-2010, 03:27 PM

This is beautiful - good luck! I would consider adding a third - practice random acts of kindness for those you know too - people always forget them.

MattMacola · 04-04-2010, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonwaller

This is fantastic! Good luck with it.

Thanks dude!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moxie

This is beautiful - good luck! I would consider adding a third - practice random acts of kindness for those you know too - people always forget them.

Third? Your making me work wayyyyyyyyy to hard!!

MattMacola · 04-05-2010, 11:02 PM

Two great days and I did my random acts of kindness both days - I think from tomorrow onward I'm going to do a random act of kindness to someone I know too like Moxie suggested. I think that'll be fun to do.

Today I gave all my easter eggs away - I got a bunch of them from friends and clients but I'm trying to eat an 80% raw diet so no matter how tempting they looked I couldn't eat them. I felt it would be weird going up to random kids and giving them easter eggs so gave them to two of my friends who have kids. Maybe making someone else's kids fat isn't an act of kindness? whooopppss lol.

And I made one of my friends smile by giving her a flower... she said it was the first time a boy had ever given her flowers which is kind of impossible.

MattMacola · 04-06-2010, 04:41 PM

I've been totally busy today so my random act of kindness today was pretty boring. I bought three total strangers coffee in a coffee shop. Tomorrow I'll do something extra fun and kind though to make up for it!

Moxie · 04-06-2010, 07:34 PM

You are just so cool. I really admire what you're doing.

MattMacola · 04-06-2010, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moxie

You are just so cool. I really admire what you're doing.

Awwwwwww.... thanks!!

votoshka · 04-07-2010, 12:18 AM

I don't suppose it matters whether the act is "boring" or not

I bet those people who all received a free coffee from you were rapt! If a stranger did that for me, just to be kind, I'd remember it

Angelique · 04-07-2010, 12:42 AM

What an awesome idea!

MattMacola · 04-07-2010, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by votoshka

I don't suppose it matters whether the act is "boring" or not

I bet those people who all received a free coffee from you were rapt! If a stranger did that for me, just to be kind, I'd remember it

Secretly I'm doing this for selfish reasons... doing stuff like this is really really fun! Plus it gets me out of my comfort zone doing things I wouldn't normally do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelique

What an awesome idea!

Thanks!

Tanja · 04-07-2010, 08:56 PM

Way to go MattMacola, really inspiring

MattMacola · 04-08-2010, 06:41 PM

Yesterday was fun. I volunteered at a place that rescues abandoned dogs. So basically got to play with a bunch of really cute dogs. One little dog has no just one back leg and had wheels instead... it was totally adorable but so sad that someone could abandon a little dog. I want to do more stuff like this over the next 30 days for sure.

Today I totally failed with this challenge. I didn't do any random acts of kindness at al. But that's ok... I will be extra kind tomorrow to compensate.

InterfaceLeader · 04-08-2010, 08:53 PM

This is fantastic

Helping others can bring such a feeling of joy.

ChrisG · 04-08-2010, 08:57 PM

Inspiring stuff. A good way to become less afraid of the world you live in. Keep it up!

Joshuaa · 04-09-2010, 12:01 AM

Love this.

Dimaz Fury · 04-09-2010, 01:27 AM

this is a really nice thing to do, keep it up!

i envy you coz its really hard for me to go beyond my comfort zone

but i hope your experiences can inpired me to do the same..

MattMacola · 04-09-2010, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InterfaceLeader

This is fantastic

Helping others can bring such a feeling of joy.

Yeah, I thought this challange might be a bit boring and not so cool but I'm actually finding this fun and a real growth experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshuaa

Love this.

Thanks dude.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dimaz Fury

this is a really nice thing to do, keep it up!

i envy you coz its really hard for me to go beyond my comfort zone

but i hope your experiences can inpired me to do the same..

Why not do one day of kindness? Or one act of kindness. It's actually really easy to do.

My random act of kindness today was just telling a bunch of people nice things. I gave three people compliments... and these were just normal people and not super attractive people who get compliments all the time. This is totally something that I had mixed feelings about because usually I wouldn't just go talk to stangers and it's really difficult to make myself do this but once I do it's always really posative (always get a smile). With this I'm trying to reinforce that it's ok to talk to strangers and they won't think I'm strange or run away from me.

I did make a friend smile today with a random act of kindness but I don't want to write about that here because it was kind of private and a bit personal for my friend and I'm not sure he would agree to me writing about it here.

I really do recommend that others try do a random act of kindness! It's actually fun and a way to get out of your comfort zone fast.

Moxie · 04-10-2010, 03:31 AM

Don't forget an act of kindness for yourself too.

MattMacola · 04-10-2010, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moxie

Don't forget an act of kindness for yourself too.

I'm always kind to myself! And doing acts of kindness to other people is like an act of kindness to myself too because it's so rewarding

marinik · 04-11-2010, 06:52 AM

Wow! Now I am going to be inspired to make even more unfounded claims about you!

Good on you! I have been living like (doing acts of kindness and making people laugh) this for at least 15 years now and I love it! It is a beautiful way to exist!

Love m

MattMacola · 04-15-2010, 05:20 PM

I have been bad... bad... bad... bad!!! My random acts of kindness have been on and off since I last posted. I have pretty much missed two days out totally - life happens though and things don't always go as planned. Damn! It's time to get back on this and start doing more cool things for people!!! Tomorrow I'm going to do anything I can to be nice... so any opportunities to do good then I'm saying yes for sure!

MattMacola · 04-16-2010, 10:00 PM

Really glad to be getting back into the habit of doing something kind every single day.

Today was a really sunny beautiful day so I gave my staff the day off to just enjoy.... I've never done this before but actually thought sitting in the office on a sunny day was just crazy. So I too abandoned my work and went out of town into the country and just had fun with friends. So that's two random acts of kindness, one for myself and one for people I know.

After going to the station I saw a lady carrying two huge bags so offered to carry them to her car... she was pleased and tried to offer me like $5 for helping her. I refused but found this funny. I did a few other random acts too like putting extra money in the vending machine so the person behind me could get a free drink.

MattMacola · 04-18-2010, 09:47 PM

Had a crazy day today but I did my two random acts of kindness. I will update this thread tomorrow with details but I want to get back into the habit of posting about my random acts here again.

MattMacola · 04-19-2010, 07:23 PM

Today I have done two random acts of kindness... first of all I gave up some of my time to do some work at a volenteer project in my city (which was actually really cool) and I gave some money to a charity that one of my friends started a couple of years ago which has been really successful.

Tomorrow I'm going to another city for a few days so I'm not sure if I will be able to do my random acts of kindness everyday and write about it but I hope so.

Sentry · 04-20-2010, 10:09 PM

Stopping by to post just to say that you are doing an amazing thing in my eyes. I have never heard of such kindness and please keep it up, it is very-very inspirational.

The world would be a brilliant place if everyone took a leaf from this thread. :P

dulaney0330 · 04-23-2010, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InterfaceLeader

This is fantastic

Helping others can bring such a feeling of joy.

Hence, the girl who started it all: Rachel Joy Scott!

columbine martyr who lived simple acts of kindness

I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same. - Rachel Scott

MattMacola · 04-27-2010, 07:34 PM

Well... I've been doing random acts of kindness everyday (I missed a couple of days but made up for that with extra stuff I did on other days) but the big problem that I have been having with this challenge is actually updating this post. Still, it's great doing the random acts of kindness and I'm having a bunch of fun doing them.

I guess my next 30 day experiment will be something around writing daily or journalling as these are two things I'm not in a routine of doing and really want that.

04-02-2010, 04:37 PM	#1 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	30 Days Of Awesome Kindness I love a challenge. So... for the next 30 days I'm going to be doing a fun little challenge for myself and I hope that writing about it here will keep me going for the full 30 days. Starting tomorrow (for 30 days) I'm going to... Do one random act of kindness to a stranger every day. Make at least one person I know smile everyday Hopefully this will help me be more kind, give more and move me totally out of my comfort zone. It'll be a fun little experiment anyway.

04-03-2010, 09:22 PM	#2 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	Now this is fun!! Totally enjoyed playing with random acts of kindness today and actually did a bunch of random things... I bought an umberella for a homeless guy (it was raining). Successfully used to keep his home (a blanket) as well as himself dry for the day! I just thought this was something really fun to do. Usually I'd just walk past and ignore him but a post on these forums gave me this idea. A guy I know has been building a website for weeks and has got no results from it at all so I spent an hour making a video showing him exactly what he can do to make a bunch of money from it. He was stoked. I'm kinda hoping he will turn things around now because that would just be soooooo awesome! And finally I told a girl in an elevator that she had the most amazing color eyes. She was shocked and almost speachless... it was the funniest moment of my day. So for the day I got three smiles + did three random acts of kindness. Sweet! P.s. tomorrow I think I'm going to do something with animals... I just haven't decided exactly how yet. Last edited by MattMacola; 04-03-2010 at 09:31 PM. Reason: writing more :P

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04-04-2010, 01:25 PM	#3 (permalink)
jonwaller Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Earth Posts: 19	This is fantastic! Good luck with it.

04-04-2010, 03:27 PM	#4 (permalink)
Moxie Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 146	This is beautiful - good luck! I would consider adding a third - practice random acts of kindness for those you know too - people always forget them.

04-05-2010, 11:02 PM	#6 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	Two great days and I did my random acts of kindness both days - I think from tomorrow onward I'm going to do a random act of kindness to someone I know too like Moxie suggested. I think that'll be fun to do. Today I gave all my easter eggs away - I got a bunch of them from friends and clients but I'm trying to eat an 80% raw diet so no matter how tempting they looked I couldn't eat them. I felt it would be weird going up to random kids and giving them easter eggs so gave them to two of my friends who have kids. Maybe making someone else's kids fat isn't an act of kindness? whooopppss lol. And I made one of my friends smile by giving her a flower... she said it was the first time a boy had ever given her flowers which is kind of impossible.

04-06-2010, 04:41 PM	#7 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	I've been totally busy today so my random act of kindness today was pretty boring. I bought three total strangers coffee in a coffee shop. Tomorrow I'll do something extra fun and kind though to make up for it!

04-06-2010, 07:34 PM	#8 (permalink)
Moxie Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 146	You are just so cool. I really admire what you're doing.

04-07-2010, 12:18 AM	#10 (permalink)
votoshka Family Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 2,547	I don't suppose it matters whether the act is "boring" or not I bet those people who all received a free coffee from you were rapt! If a stranger did that for me, just to be kind, I'd remember it

04-07-2010, 12:42 AM	#11 (permalink)
Angelique Family Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 1,760	What an awesome idea!

04-07-2010, 08:56 PM	#13 (permalink)
Tanja Retired Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 6,068	Way to go MattMacola, really inspiring

04-08-2010, 06:41 PM	#14 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	Yesterday was fun. I volunteered at a place that rescues abandoned dogs. So basically got to play with a bunch of really cute dogs. One little dog has no just one back leg and had wheels instead... it was totally adorable but so sad that someone could abandon a little dog. I want to do more stuff like this over the next 30 days for sure. Today I totally failed with this challenge. I didn't do any random acts of kindness at al. But that's ok... I will be extra kind tomorrow to compensate.

04-08-2010, 08:53 PM	#15 (permalink)
InterfaceLeader Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: In a green and bountiful land Posts: 515	This is fantastic Helping others can bring such a feeling of joy.

04-08-2010, 08:57 PM	#16 (permalink)
ChrisG Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: near London, United Kingdom Posts: 153	Inspiring stuff. A good way to become less afraid of the world you live in. Keep it up!

04-09-2010, 12:01 AM	#17 (permalink)
Joshuaa Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Scotland Posts: 106	Love this.

04-09-2010, 01:27 AM	#18 (permalink)
Dimaz Fury Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Elysian fields Posts: 3	this is a really nice thing to do, keep it up! i envy you coz its really hard for me to go beyond my comfort zone but i hope your experiences can inpired me to do the same..

04-10-2010, 03:31 AM	#20 (permalink)
Moxie Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 146	Don't forget an act of kindness for yourself too.

04-11-2010, 06:52 AM	#22 (permalink)
marinik Legendary Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Where Living and Loving and Laughing are written into the Constitution Posts: 14,240	Wow! Now I am going to be inspired to make even more unfounded claims about you! Good on you! I have been living like (doing acts of kindness and making people laugh) this for at least 15 years now and I love it! It is a beautiful way to exist! Love m

04-15-2010, 05:20 PM	#23 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	I have been bad... bad... bad... bad!!! My random acts of kindness have been on and off since I last posted. I have pretty much missed two days out totally - life happens though and things don't always go as planned. Damn! It's time to get back on this and start doing more cool things for people!!! Tomorrow I'm going to do anything I can to be nice... so any opportunities to do good then I'm saying yes for sure!

04-16-2010, 10:00 PM	#24 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	Really glad to be getting back into the habit of doing something kind every single day. Today was a really sunny beautiful day so I gave my staff the day off to just enjoy.... I've never done this before but actually thought sitting in the office on a sunny day was just crazy. So I too abandoned my work and went out of town into the country and just had fun with friends. So that's two random acts of kindness, one for myself and one for people I know. After going to the station I saw a lady carrying two huge bags so offered to carry them to her car... she was pleased and tried to offer me like $5 for helping her. I refused but found this funny. I did a few other random acts too like putting extra money in the vending machine so the person behind me could get a free drink.

04-18-2010, 09:47 PM	#25 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	Had a crazy day today but I did my two random acts of kindness. I will update this thread tomorrow with details but I want to get back into the habit of posting about my random acts here again.

04-19-2010, 07:23 PM	#26 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	Today I have done two random acts of kindness... first of all I gave up some of my time to do some work at a volenteer project in my city (which was actually really cool) and I gave some money to a charity that one of my friends started a couple of years ago which has been really successful. Tomorrow I'm going to another city for a few days so I'm not sure if I will be able to do my random acts of kindness everyday and write about it but I hope so.

04-20-2010, 10:09 PM	#27 (permalink)
Sentry Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 13	Stopping by to post just to say that you are doing an amazing thing in my eyes. I have never heard of such kindness and please keep it up, it is very-very inspirational. The world would be a brilliant place if everyone took a leaf from this thread. :P

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04-27-2010, 07:34 PM	#29 (permalink)
MattMacola Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 193	Well... I've been doing random acts of kindness everyday (I missed a couple of days but made up for that with extra stuff I did on other days) but the big problem that I have been having with this challenge is actually updating this post. Still, it's great doing the random acts of kindness and I'm having a bunch of fun doing them. I guess my next 30 day experiment will be something around writing daily or journalling as these are two things I'm not in a routine of doing and really want that.