You are busy. You don’t have time for adding even one more thing to your schedule, right? Some of you don’t agree and that is great, but I know most of you feel like this and I ask that you stay open to adding a little daily commitment that will pay big dividends in your productivity and success.
Happy and grateful people are more productive and successful people. There was a study done of people who tracked their acts of kindness throughout the day for a week. Compared with those that did not do this, they were happier and more grateful. Your brain works better in these positive states (see my other posts referenced below) which then creates more focus and more creative solutions. It makes intuitive sense and it is great that science backs this up with data!
An act of kindness does not have to be big and take a lot of time. It can be as simple as asking the store cashier, “How is your day going?” The key to maximizing the good stuff in your brain is that you don’t worry about their reaction (i.e. whether they actually appreciate it or not). Focus on your feelings of kindness and positive intentions and most likely they will sense your authenticity and be grateful in return (but some people are just having a bad day and that has noting to do with you). Of course, you can add some impact by doing something extraordinary like purchasing coffee or food for the person in the drive-thru behind you or sending a thoughtful note or e-mail of acknowledgment to someone who has made a difference to you. None of these things take more than a few minutes.
Take a few minutes at the end of your day to review your act(s) of kindness and what you are grateful for; write them down for more impact. Just thinking through them on a daily basis will shift your brain. The research study showed that by tracking the acts each day you create an upward spiral that leads to more kind acts and more happiness. Be kind to yourself too, this is not an opportunity to criticize yourself (that will defeat the whole purpose). If you find that you missed an opportunity then learn from that and make a plan for tomorrow. It takes 21-30 days to re-program your internalGPS (or form a new habit); be consistent and patient and you will see great results.
If you are thinking, “yeah, yeah, I don’t have time for all this happy stuff” then unfortunately you will be right and you will miss out on an easy tool that has been proven to add more productivity to your work and life.
What acts of kindness will you or did you do today? Please share in a comment.
Prior Posts About How Happiness Leads to Productivity:
Coaching for Effective Results with Positive Emotions
Coaching to Focus on What is Going Well for Success with less Stress
5 Strategies for Building a Strength-Based Business & Life for More Success
photo credit: jillallyn via Flickr creative commons