Three Small Acts. A Better Week.

Newsletter readers: Here’s the link to applying the three small acts.

It’s hard to look around right now without noticing what feels heavy, loud, or broken in the world. Headlines are relentless. Conversations feel sharper. Even ordinary days can carry an undercurrent of frustration or fatigue.

When that’s the backdrop, it’s easy to feel like your individual actions do not matter much. But they do. Especially the small ones.

I am not talking about grand gestures or trying to fix big problems. (Although you certainly can do that.) I am talking about Micro-Acts of Goodness. Small, intentional choices you make in ordinary moments that quietly shape how your day feels.

Here is a simple practice I have been returning to lately.

Each day, look for three opportunities to do something small and good on purpose.

These moments are already there. Holding the door. Letting someone go ahead of you in line. Letting another car merge without tension. Giving up the better parking spot. Pausing instead of rushing.

What matters is not the size of the act. It is the intention behind it.

In my work on perspective and change, including in Start With What If, I have observed this pattern repeatedly. Small shifts in how you see a moment often create better options in how you respond to it.

There is real science behind why this works. Research shows that small acts of kindness increase positive emotion, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being. Interestingly, the emotional lift is not limited to the person receiving the act. The person doing it often experiences the greater benefit.

That is why this is not about being nice. It is about being proactive with your emotional state.

When you practice a few micro-acts of goodness each day, subtle things begin to shift. Your pace slows. Your awareness widens. You notice more of what is working instead of scanning for what is wrong. The day feels lighter, not because the world changed, but because your relationship to it did.

This is not about fixing the world. It is about choosing how you participate in and contribute to it.

Try it for a week. Three small, intentional acts a day. No tracking. No sharing. Just notice how your mood, patience, and presence shift as the week unfolds.

Sometimes the most meaningful change does not come from doing more. It comes from doing a few small things on purpose, consistently.

What if this week, you practiced three micro-acts of goodness each day and noticed what changed for you?

Applying This Inside a Company or Team
 I have noticed that this practice naturally extends beyond the individual. When teams intentionally practice micro-acts of goodness, people tend to be happier, work better together, and show up more positively with customers. Small, everyday choices quietly shape the culture others experience.

If you are curious what this could look like inside your company or group, I wrote a short follow-up post exploring a few simple ways to apply it at a team level. Read here.