The Power of Three Acts of Daily Kindness
A S.M.A.R.T. Goal for Today’s World
By Brian Smith
As a management consultant and business thought leader, I challenge myself and my team to come up with meaningful goals. My team and I are proponents of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym that my team and I consistently use to detail our approach toward business management.
The acronym stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.
In terms of setting goals, these are five vital aspects needed to ensure you achieve what you set out to do. You must define and hone in on your goal (making it specific), determine the measurements needed to guide your path toward achieving your goal and ensure your goal is both attainable and realistic for you at this time.
For 2023, I’ve identified a S.M.A.R.T. goal for myself and for my team members. I believe it’s something everyone can strive for at all times. I call it: Three Acts of Daily Kindness.
Unfortunately, the world has been a very tumultuous place in ways that I never thought we’d see.
In 2015, when Donald Trump announced he was running for President of the United States, we saw the first glimpse of real general unkindness, which has somehow become the norm. Then during his presidency (and adding to the already unkind world atmosphere we lived in), the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this unkindness and it was coupled with a large dose of isolationism.
In the wake of these events, the return to social normalcy has been a struggle.
As I travel around the world, it seems that many people have generally forgotten that we share our lives on Earth with over 8 billion other people. The world does not (and should not) revolve around us individually; it is here for us all.
Recognizing this, I wondered how I could influence our world for the better.
Then, during a phone call with my wife René, I was able to set my challenge for this year. She brought up a topic I hadn’t heard before — she said, “I was so happy to get my three daily acts of kindness in today.”
I was intrigued. I had to know what this meant because, in over 30 years of marriage, I had never heard her mention this daily challenge. At first, I wondered if maybe I took René’s ability to be kind to all around her for granted. (I’ve always described her as one of the kindest people on the planet.) But after asking her more about this, I soon discovered that I was simply unaware that spreading kindness was a conscious intention, a daily goal for her.
René has (for as long as she can remember) started every day with a goal to accomplish three acts of kindness toward others.
Her interpretation of these acts is actually very simple and quite adaptable for others: Holding open a door, complimenting someone on their outfit or some other characteristic, and generally doing anything to positively support another human without any expectation of remuneration. I was thunderstruck. She is a genius. I honestly feel like she just found the solution to world peace. I sat for a while after our conversation and thought, If everyone in the world performed just three acts of kindness each day, that would be over 24 billion acts of kindness worldwide a day. This could literally create peace on Earth.
Yes, I know that I’m exaggerating (slightly), but what a simple and effective daily goal: Three Acts of Daily Kindness. Who can’t remember that?
I implore you not to wait for another new year to make your personal resolution. Set your next S.M.A.R.T. goal right now and commit to creating three daily acts of kindness. Not only will this goal meet the S.M.A.R.T. criteria (you can measure it by the three smiles you receive in return), but you’ll be surprised by how doling out kindness can put an extra spring in your step and in others.
Brian Smith, PhD, is the founder and senior managing partner of IA Business Advisors, a management consulting firm that has worked with more than 20,000 CEOs, entrepreneurs, managers, and employees worldwide. Together with his daughter, Mary Griffin, he has authored his latest book in the “I” in Team series, Positive Influence – Be the “I” in Team (Made for Success Publishing, April 4, 2023), which shares how to become our best self with everyone we influence. Learn more at his website here.