Ever since I’ve started this blog, I’ve always had this dream to do something that will affect the world in a positive manner. Last year, I came up with a pretty diabolical link train that I think Google still hates me for. It was insanely popular and I still see links come in from stragglers who just learned of the train last week so I know how huge something can get if everything is lined up correctly. I also just saw a rerun of “Pay It Forward” last weekend and thought it’d be nice to try the same idea on the internet. I’m sure this has probably been done here and there, but this train won’t ask for anything crazy. One tiny gesture of kindness can go a long way so I want to see how kind we all can be offline.
Here’s a list of 20 things I thought would cover most nice gestures, just in case you evil people out there forget what your heart felt like :).
- Write a Letter to an Old Person - Yes, a letter with a pen, paper, stamp and envelope. For you young whipper snappers who don’t what I’m talking about, google it. I know “Old Person” is a pretty relatively term, so think of someone your grandparents age. If that’s too old, then write to a friend you haven’t spoken to in over 10 years.
- Teach someone younger than you how to do something new - i.e. fishing, changing the oil, dicing an onion, riding a bike, etc.
- Call someone who’s sick and make them smile.
- Go through your closet and find 3 nice peices of clothing you don’t wear anymore and donate them to a local clothing drive.
- Talk to the shyest person you know.
- Let someone ahead of you in line.
- Fix something for someone.
- Do something nice for someone and don’t let them know that it was you who did it.
- Read a story to a small child.
- Pay the Toll/Parking for the car in back of you.
- Stick up for someone.
- Plant a tree.
- Donate Blood.
- Volunteer at the local homeless shelter.
- Tell the manager of a restaurant how great your waiter/waitress was.
- Pull over and help someone that’s stranded on the side of the road.
- Return the grocery cart for someone at the supermarket.
- Buy a book for a child.
- Give up your restaurant table to an elderly couple.
- Offer to babysit your friend’s children.
So, this is how it’s going to work:
1. Pick one of these nice gestures and do it.
2. Share your experience - Email, Youtube, Twitter, Blog Post or at a Club Meeting.
3. In the same announcement, challenge your network to do perform one of these gestures as well. If possible, display this list of 20 gestures to make it easier for them to think of something to do.
That’s it. I’m not asking for links. I’m not asking for any sort of credit for this idea. I just want to see how far this can go and hopefully by Christmas of this year, everyone will have at least one story to share about a good deed they have performed.
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Neat idea. I just might give it a whirl.
People still hand write letters? (kidding) That is a great “let’s not lose site of reality” post. We miss out on so much of life by not doing things the old fashioned way. Thanks for the reminder.
I do this stuff all the time, but I am running out of time. Yes, it’s nice to be important, but also important to be nice.
[…] of link trains in his day, but his latest scheme is actually a lot more altruistic. He describes 20 ways to pay it forward offline. Have you done your good deed today? Maybe you should blog or tweet about […]
[…] Gary Lee recently shared 20 ways to pay it forward offline to work towards his own dream to do something that will impact the world in a positive manner. The […]
Hm, after reading the list I realised had made some of the gestures. However, planting a tree and donating blood sound like a good idea, too