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Kind things you can do in five minutes
Nobody needs a free afternoon to be kind. These take about as long as waiting for a kettle, and most of them happen in the gaps of a day you were having anyway. If you have been meaning to do something and keep not getting to it, start here.
Showing 1–30 of 197 ideas
Ask whether it can be repaired, before you buy it
One question at the point of purchase decides the next ten years of that object.
5 minutesFreeThe planet
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Invite the new family twice
The first invitation is often declined out of uncertainty. The second is the one that establishes it was real.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Learn to say their name properly
People with unfamiliar names spend their lives being mispronounced and told it does not matter.
5 minutesFreeA stranger1 person did this
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Ask again the person who always says no
People who decline every invitation are usually not uninterested. Often they are waiting to be asked a fourth time.
5 minutesFreeA neighbor3 people did this
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Answer the message you have been avoiding
The longer a reply is owed the harder it gets, and the person waiting has usually assumed something worse than the truth.
5 minutesFreeA friend1 person did this
Rated higher · 1 person rated this
Call the relative you only see at funerals
Nobody fell out. It lapsed on its own, and now the only time you are in a room together is when somebody has died.
5 minutesFreeA relative
Not rated yet
Apologize without the second half
“I'm sorry I snapped.” Full stop. No “but I was tired”, no “but you had just”.
5 minutesFreeSomeone you live with
Not rated yet
Leave the fledgling where it is
A feathered bird hopping on the ground is not abandoned. Picking it up is usually the thing that kills it.
5 minutesFreeAn animal
Not rated yet
Keep the cat in at dawn during nesting season
Fledglings leave the nest unable to fly properly for about a fortnight. Dawn is when both cats and birds are busiest.
5 minutesUnder $10An animal
Not rated yet
Let them tell you the story you have already heard
Do not say you know. Let them get to the end of it the way they like telling it.
5 minutesFreeSomeone you live with
Not rated yet
Pick up the litter you did not drop
Two pieces on the way home, every time. Not a campaign — a habit that takes eleven seconds.
5 minutesFreeThe planet
Not rated yet
Find out what your council actually recycles
Ten minutes on their website. Most people are wrong about at least three things, in both directions.
5 minutesFreeThe planet
Not rated yet
Check under the car before you drive off in winter
Cats sleep against warm engines and inside wheel arches. Ten seconds and a bang on the hood.
5 minutesFreeAn animal
Not rated yet
Put water out in a heatwave
A shallow dish at ground level, refilled daily. In a dry week it is the difference between a bird surviving the afternoon and not.
5 minutesFreeAn animal
Not rated yet
Ask about the thing they mentioned last week
The difficult meeting, the scan, the argument with their sister. They probably assume you forgot, because most people do.
5 minutesFreeSomeone you live with
Not rated yet
Slow down at dusk, where the road meets the fields
Most animals are hit in the half hour either side of dark, on roads people know well enough to stop concentrating on.
5 minutesFreeAn animal
Not rated yet
Let one corner of it go wild
Stop mowing a square yard. Leave the log where it fell. Neatness is the expensive part, for everything that is not you.
5 minutesFreeAn animal
Not rated yet
Say the specific thing you noticed today
Not that you appreciate them. The actual thing, from today, that you would not have noticed about anybody else.
5 minutesFreeSomeone you live with
Not rated yet
Leave the accessible toilet alone
It is not the spare one when there is a queue. For some people it is the only one in the building.
5 minutesFreeA stranger3 people did this
Not rated yet
Keep sending the birthday card after the divorce
Children lose half their extended family in a separation, usually without anyone deciding that should happen.
5 minutesUnder $10A friend1 person did this
Not rated yet
Give money without making it a loan
A loan between friends creates a debt that outlasts the need. A gift, clearly stated, does not.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Not rated yet
Buy two and leave one
Suspended coffees, paid-forward meals and school-fund top-ups exist. Most people have never noticed the option.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger1 person did this
Not rated yet
Wait for someone who stammers
Finishing the sentence of someone who stammers is meant to help and does the opposite every time.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Keep including the person whose language it is not
Groups drift back into the majority language within minutes, and the one person left out never says anything.
5 minutesFreeA stranger1 person did this
Not rated yet
Offer somewhere quiet without making it a thing
Loud rooms are genuinely painful for some people, and asking for quiet in a group is socially expensive.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Let a child finish the sentence
Adults complete children's sentences constantly, and the child learns that their version was not worth waiting for.
5 minutesFreeA friend4 people did this
Not rated yet
Make leaving early unremarkable
Chronic illness, anxiety and pain all mean sometimes going home. The hard part is having to explain in front of everyone.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Not rated yet
Ask something other than where they are from
For anyone who looks or sounds different, it is the first question of every conversation, forever.
5 minutesFreeA stranger1 person did this
Not rated yet
Say something when the room lets it pass
A remark lands, everyone pretends not to have heard, and the target learns exactly who is in the room.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Not rated yet
Tip in cash where the card tip may not reach them
Card tips are sometimes pooled, taxed through payroll or partly retained. Cash usually goes to the person.
5 minutesUnder $10A stranger
Not rated yet