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Kind things to do online
From a phone, in a few minutes. Mostly writing something true where somebody will see it — a review, a message, a word to someone's manager.
Showing 61–90 of 98 ideas
Send someone a photo of themselves from years ago
Everybody has pictures of other people sitting unseen on a hard drive. The subject has usually never seen them.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Be the one who actually books it
Everyone agrees they should meet up. Groups fail at the step where somebody names a date and holds it.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Stay on the call after the bad news
Redundancies and rejections are usually delivered and then immediately followed by everyone logging off.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Give the introduction, not the advice
When a friend is stuck, the name of someone who has done it is worth more than your opinion about it.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Give a local group one evening
Small charities and clubs cannot afford the professional help they need, and the gap is usually one evening wide.
An afternoonFreeA stranger
Quietly pay for the thing they canceled
Money is the first thing to go in a crisis, and the cancellations are small, private and cumulatively demoralising.
5 minutesMore than $10A friend
Apologize without explaining yourself
Most apologies contain a defense, which converts them into an argument the other person now has to have.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Say that you do not know what to say
Most people say nothing at all because they are waiting to think of the right thing. There isn't one.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Name the person when the feedback is good
Complaints always name the individual. Praise almost always says 'the staff', which is unusable by a manager.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Answer the question you just solved, publicly
You spent two hours fixing something. The forum thread that nearly helped you has no answer on it.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Be the one who keeps the group chat going
Group chats die when everyone waits for someone else to post. Somebody has to be willing to look keen.
OngoingFreeA friend
Read about it so they do not have to explain
People with a rare diagnosis spend their lives educating everyone around them. Arriving informed is a rest.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Tell someone their free thing was useful
People maintaining open resources get bug reports and complaints. They almost never hear that it worked.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Find the specific service, not the general advice
Telling someone to get help is useless. Finding the actual local service with opening hours is not.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Say out loud that it is not their fault
Front-line staff absorb anger for decisions made by people the customer will never meet.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Write down who on the street owns what
A street already contains every tool anyone needs. What it lacks is a list of where they are.
Half an hourFreeA neighbor
Check the thing before you share the outrage
Thirty seconds of verification prevents you becoming the reason a false story reached another thousand people.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Send the job to the one person it suits
Broadcasting a vacancy reaches nobody in particular. Sending it to one person with a reason changes their year.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Offer a menu, not an open question
'Let me know if you need anything' puts the work of asking onto the person with least capacity to ask.
5 minutesFreeA caregiver
Write the reference properly, or say you cannot
A tepid reference is worse than none, and the person asking has no way to know which one they are getting.
Half an hourFreeA friend
Send the thing that reminded you of them
A link with 'this is so you' is proof you thought about someone when they were not there. That is the whole message.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Make the first move after a long silence
Most estrangements are maintained by both sides waiting for the other, each assuming they are the wronged party.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Say it publicly, not just in the DM
Private praise is nice. Public praise is a credential that can be pointed at, quoted and used.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Notice who has not spoken
In most meetings two or three people never speak, and the reason is almost never that they have nothing to say.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Answer the beginner's question kindly
The tone of the first reply someone gets determines whether they ask a second question, ever.
5 minutesFreeA stranger
Offer to do the paperwork after a death
Bereavement comes with dozens of phone calls in which you explain, repeatedly, that someone has died.
An afternoonFreeA friend
Give to the unfashionable thing
Money follows stories. Drainage, insurance and boiler repairs raise nothing and close more organizations than anything else.
5 minutesMore than $10A stranger
Tell someone about the mistake you made
Sharing your own error is more useful than any advice, and far rarer, because it costs something to say.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Say the compliment you thought but did not say
Most admiring thoughts about people we love are never spoken aloud, on the assumption that they already know.
5 minutesFreeA friend
Tell them the true answer when they ask for one
Reflexive reassurance is easier and less useful. Someone asking properly usually wants the real view.
Half an hourFreeA friend