As I write this post, I’m actually 30,000+ feet in the air in flight to Chicago for the Financial Blogger’s Conference. Yay for Wi-Fi!
I didn’t have a scheduled post because I’ve been preparing for my presentation all week, but I wanted to take this time, en route, to tell you a quick story.
I was a little late getting to the airport this morning and for some reason I had printed out the wrong flight information, so I was held up for a little bit.
Not a good start.
At the baggage check-in area, I overheard a woman saying that my flight to Chicago was already boarding, and I hadn’t even officially checked in yet!
Uh oh.
I told her that I was supposed to be on that flight and she immediately checked in my bag, rushed me over to the security area and kindly let me pass everyone in the long line so I could make my flight.
I made it, just in time.
This woman, whose name I didn’t even have time to catch, totally made my day.
She didn’t have to take the time to help me out, but she did, and even though she’ll probably continue on with her day like normal and not think twice about it, I’m extremely grateful because my day would have totally been turned upside down if it wasn’t for her.
RAOKs, or Random Acts of Kindness, can really make a huge difference in a person’s life.
You’ve recently heard me mention the importance of RAOKs in a couple of my latest posts:
- SPI Session #26: Two Types of Relationships You Must Develop Online in Order to Succeed
- How to Manage Relationships Online Like a Pro (for Free)
So, in the theme of kindness and relationship building that’s been going around, I think it would be totally appropriate if we all participate and perform some Random Act of Kindness today.
It can be whatever you want, for anybody you want. It doesn’t have to be internet business related (although it can be). Just do something random and kind for someone today, and you’ll see that big or small, you really are making a difference.
Perform your act of kindness, and then share what you did in the comment section. And if you’re up to it, feel free to use the #RAOK hashtag on Twitter so we can all follow and spread the good.
I have 0:11 minutes of battery time remaining so I must sign off now, but I look forward to landing and reading your RAOKs for today.
Cheers, and all the best to you!
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{ 51 comments (Click Here to Leave a Comment Below) }
Pay it forward! Your day would have been ruined had that woman not helped you out for sure. One of the easiest RAOK I think you can do, is hold the door open for someone who has their hands full/is struggling! Good post Pat, I am sure you just inspired many to be extra kind to someone today.
All The Best Pat!
I Hope you rock at Financial Blogger’s Conference.
I’m bummed I have to miss you this weekend Pat, but I know you’re going to knock it out of the park! Good luck and all the best.
Marty
Good reminder to do this… bought coffee for the person in the drive through line behind me… made a clean getaway.
I am now adapting myself to concept of doing all good things to everyone or anyone I possibly can, without asking or expecting anything back. I didn’t have any name of it , well let it be RAOK !
Thank you and Keep Rockin , Pat.
You’d be surprised at how much of an impact you can have on people just from one little RAOK. Inspiring story Pat, glad you made the flight!
Great advice Pat, R.A.O.K have lead me to long term relationships with people that have ended up providing me with most of my offline work. Word of mouth is a massive part of marketing, personally you are one of the greatest people at developing these relationships online.
have fun!
Loved your podcast about relationships and RAOK Pat, but I have a question for you or any SPI’er who can answer: What if someone “in your space” (competitor) does a RAOK to help promote your website, but you don’t feel that THEIR website is something you want to recommend to people? For instance, let’s say that person’s website has stupid or offensive things on it, but they have a good heart and they’re trying to do you a favor by promoting your website. I guess a polite “Thank you” is all you can do? It’s kind of insulting though – like if you tell someone you love them and they don’t say it back (but instead they just say “Thanks”! Lol)
The woman reciprocated what you yourself have been doing to we your readers by providing us with important posts and blogging ideas.
You deserve to be showed kindness pat !.
Glad you made your flight. I almost missed my connecting flight last weekend. The flight was delayed and then out of no where it was bording in 10 minutes. I was half way around the Houston terminal and was running with my wife and two kids, one in a stoller, to make the connecting flight. Got my exercise in that day.
Have a great trip!
Hi Pat,
Yeah, I heard you say RAOK in you previous podcast. It made me remember the movie “evan almighty”
they call ARK – Act of Random Kindness. Glad you made just on time! Enjoy the trip…
Regards,
Louie Sison
Amen, brother. It all comes back around. Love the idea of giving back to someone daily. R.A.O.K. are amazingly simple and amazingly fulfilling. Giving before we receive, without expecting to receive anything, is hugely important. I think the new breed of True Entrepreneurs really gets that.
Good luck at the conference and keep up the good content.
I love this post. For quite some time now, I have made it a point to do RAOKs.
One that I remember the most was actually a few months ago at Walmart. I drive a crew cab Chevy Silverado so when I am in big parking lots, I try to pack away from the masses. I don’t want to get hit!
On my way down the stretch towards the door, an older woman was finishing putting her bags into her car. She couldn’t have been any younger than 60. She turned around to look for the area that holds the baskets. It was about 30ft up the parking lot (toward Walmart) and I could see her disappointment from a distance.
I did slight jog to catch her before she took a step.
“Ma’am, let me take that from you. I’m headed that way anyway.”
Her face lit up!
“Thank you, young man.”
She had a look on her face as if I had renewed a little bit of faith in today’s youth. Being less than half her age, I’m sure she has experienced her fair share of disrespectful youth.
I know it moved her… and that moved me. Every time I think about it, I smile.
Two weeks ago I noticed an elderly man trying to change a tyre. I spotted his wife sitting in the car, too (as if it’s not hard enough to lift it when it’s empty). That poor fella was in “Sunday attire” (decent shirt and trousers), so I stopped by and asked if he needed help. He just grunted “no no”, so I went away. I was a bit disappointed, but I felt good anyway for having tried. As silly as it may sound, it brightened my day!
I’m not mad it him for saying no. Us men are stubborn like that. Kudos to you for reaching out, though.
awesome! I heard of this when I read delivering happiness. It works I’ve tried it before and it’s great karma.
Once I changed a guy’s oil in his car on the side of the road. He needed water in the radiator but put it in the crankcase by mistake.
Despite the fact that I had just come back from a 10 hours shift, I drove back home got change and came back to my brothers residence to babysit his 2 kids. Earlier this week, my brother told me that he wife was often reminded him that they were never doing anything together et al. So he decided to take her out for dinner and then took her to a movie.
Did I tell you that I didn’t feel like doing it as I was extremely tired but did it anyways. You should of seen the face on my sister in law when I got to their residence(priceless).
I know that I gonna be tired tomorrow morning as I wake up at 04:30am but it doesn’t really happen very often and both my bro and his wife are happy and get to reconnect.
Here it is. Not much but still a R.A.O.K.
Later.
Philippe
This is a great link for anyone interested working RAOK into their daily lives…
29 Ways to Carry Out Random Acts of Kindness Every Day
http://bit.ly/n7F6sX
From http://www.lifehack.org
Hi Pat,
Knock em dead in Chi town.
My friend was injured and broke both arms, so I cut his grass every week. He really appreciates it and it makes me feel great to be able to help his family.
When I lived in the Bay Area I used to love to pull up to the toll booth and say, “charge me for me and the car behind me…” then speed off… Now I have to get my thrills at Starbucks drive thru in the morning.
I love the feeling of imagining someone’s happiness when they hear “it’s all good” as they start to pay…
$2.00 flying out of my pocket feels so good!
That is awesome….need to do that sometime
Hi Pat,
I was recently in Italy, and I read in the brochure on the plane that they were installing WiFi, and that they would be ready with free WiFi within a few months. When I get free WiFi on planes, that’s when I’m going to start flying a lot more (I don’t like flying at all, but if I can spend the time in the air on my computer, I’ll probably forget all the negative thinking).
The random act of kindness is a great idea. It reminds me of what I just did, even though I didn’t think about it as R.A.O.K. I just received a call from a person who invited me to speak about social media to a group of old people (ages from 70 and up). I’m not getting paid a dime, but my only thought was what a wonderful oportunity to get old people interested in social media. So, it’s sort of a random act of kindness
Have a great time at the conference.
Jens
Nice story. Yes, I toatally agree that RAOKs can really make a huge difference in a someone’s life.
We were out of town when I saw the email linking to this post. Honoring your request, we left a few extra dollars for the housekeeper when we left our hotel. I hope it brightens her day (I hope the day comes when we can leave $100 tip for a hotel maid or a breakfast waitress but I’d want to be a fly on the wall to their expression!)
I hope you share lots from the conference!
reach as soon as you can to airport otherwise one day you will lose your important flight.
good karma is coming your way, coz ur awesome-) keep it up=)
This is great, Pat. I think R.A.O.K. can be especially helpful when we feel stuck in any way, as it immediately breaks up stagnant energy and helps us get out of our own skin.
One little thing I do regularly is to hold the door open for people. Old, on crutches, or pushing a baby in a stroller, it’s nice to make someone’s day a bit easier by making helping them enter or exit a place. Takes less than 10 seconds out of my day, but the smiles and appreciation I get in return are priceless.
Hi Pat,
I recently read your niche site competition and it totally inspired me. I’m a 23 year old student and have been dreaming about passive income for quite a while now. Your site is the first one that actually helped me understand how a living online really works. THANKS!
I got market samurai through your link and found some profitable niches.
My questions is: Do you know if it is legal to build a niche site around a public person (rockstar, band, author) and then sell their products on it? Can I have their name in my url?
Maybe that’d be an interesting Blog Post for you to write about. Just a though.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Nice lady! Glad you made it on your flight. Hope you had a good time in the conference.
Hi Pat! Such an inspirational post, thank you for sharing
I was surfing the web like I normally do and I found a link to your site, to this post from another website that I happened to browse through. The word RAOK caught my interest and I was really inspired to know that it means Random Acts of Kindness. If each of us would do simple, kind deeds to people that we meet, then collectively we can spread the love and make this world a better place to live in.
Being kind and generous to others will give us a different sense of happiness and fulfillment. When you help without expecting something in return, you feel inspired to become a better person everyday. Many of the world’s greatest have become successful in life because they were able to discover their creativity through the inspiration they get from helping others.
I would like to share a link that shows how RAOK can affect and inspire people. It has two inspiring videos that can really make you smile. I hope you will enjoy reading and watching it as much as I do. Here is the link:
http://www.musesland.com/inspiration-from-others/generosity-47
More power Pat!
Welcome to Chicago Pat….
Wish I could have met up with you during your trip, maybe tip back a beer or 2 over some chicago style pizza. Anyway have a great trip.
RAOK’s pay off in so many more ways than you will ever know. A simple smile can make someones day or change their lives. You may never know the results, but so worth it.
Hi Pat, I’ve come over from Adrienne Smiths blog and am glad i did.
wifi on a plane, wow I have trouble getting linked up in garden
It’s nice when someone steps in to help and stops a problem before it becomes one. The assistant taking you to the front of the queue saved loads of headaches. I once missed a flight by a few minutes and thought I was going to have a nightmare. I had my son with me and he was 12 at the time so I was really concerned about being stuck in the airport for hours trying to sort it out.
Luckily for me the assistant that said I’d missed the flight instantly started booking me onto the next one, with no extra charge. It’s nice meeting nice people that just do it coz they can.
In line with you RAOK I’ve just tweeted a couple of special people that always do that little bit extra to help others.
Thanks Pat, I’ll be back
Barry
Hey Pat,
Good idea on the RAOK, although I think everyone should be RAOK by default, not on special occasions
It also helps to say “have a great day” at the end of every conversation (including shopping check-out) – it’s a HUGE change in your lifestyle and makes a day for the recepient (in the check-out’s all they hear all day long is “thanks, bye”). Just a hint
What a coincidence Pat! I was thinking of doing an act of kindness by donating a small amount as relief to victims of the earthquake in Sikkim, India and then I read your post on Random Acts of Kindness. And guess what I did then? I sent my check right away!
Kindness is a language which the blind can see and the deaf can hear. ~African proverb
What I think you experienced Pat is actually R.A.F.T.S. or Random Acts Of Terrific Service. Becoming increasingly rarer these days, glad you found it’s still in existence.Anyone else been in R.A.F.T.S?
I’m so glad you made your flight!
Your presentation was awesome! It was really inspiring and well-thought out. It was obvious you put a lot of work into though it looked effortless.
I love ROAK stories like yours. It gives us faith that people are still humane and shows us what kind of impact we can have on another’s life.
Darn..I was planning to attend the conference too! Let us know how the conference went!
It was an awesome conference and a great way to end it with you speech, man you ROCK!
As for my RAOK, I actually did it before reading your post (kind of really RANDOM!).
A fellow blogger wanted me to be partner into one of his online business project. He had sent me this email while I was at the financial blogger conference.
I didn’t had the time to be a partner since I’m already on too many project myself. Since I couldn’t be partner with him, I took an hour to give some thoughts and gave him a 1,000 words email feedback on his idea and how to start his website. I’ve also did some research to find some example of what has been done so far this niche.
I felt kind of good about it. Now that I’m reading today’s blog, I feel even better
It was a pleasure meeting you at the conference!
Cheers,
Mike
Pat – it was great to see you at Fincon11. You were really a natural up on stage, still hard to believe you never spoke to an audience before. Hope to see you again.
Good advice Pat and very cool story to go along with it. You rarely hear of airport people helping out a passenger like they helped you! Glad to hear you made it on your flight.
Also, it feel good to give ROAK to a stranger. Most likely you will not receive the kindness back but then again you don’t do this to get something in return other than positive feeling you experience. I wish more people show ROAK instead of being mean for nothing. I really enjoyed reading this post.
Hey Pat!
Just goes to show you that it doesnt have to cost anyting to do somebody a good turn,
I have a saying in so much as when I think about some of my friends or people that I know…
“They are the sort of people that will do you a good turn before they do you a bad one.”
Thanks as always for the inspirtation.
Thanks for giving me such a wonderful idea for shoosing the best moment to write a blog post. I have never tried to write articles when flying, but after reading this post I would like to try. Hope I will have an inspiration to create a wonderful blog post!
It is a universal law that the more you help other people, the more people will help you out. I’m sure you got the help you needed that day as a result of the many people you have helped and inspired through your blog. Glad you made your flight!
Pat… the picture for this post should be the private jet you own a share of!
Hi Pat,
I know I’m getting in here a little later than most people, but I just couldn’t resist. This is a great post, and I love the acronym.
I haven’t done an RAOK yet, because I just read the post, and have only had time to type this comment, but it will definitely be on my mind these next few days.
I especially enjoyed reading other little stories that are left in the comments here.
Well, thanks for putting this in my head!
God Bless,
~Pianolessongirl,
Dakota
Hmm, I usually do this without thinking, but will work on my daily RAOK throughout the week. It will only help foster relationships and contribute to one piece of a better world.
Dwight Anthony
FinanciallyEliteBlog.com
Hey guys! We at the Kindness Challenge feel just like you! A little bit of kindness can go a long way! If you’re looking for ways to continue on in the RAOK spirit throughout this holiday season, we encourage you to join the friends and family that started our group and spread the message… here’s a little backstory..
–
31 Days to Warm the World: Kindness Challenge 2012
In a world increasingly divided, a group of Minnesotans is starting a worldwide movement: to warm the world through kindness in just 31 days. During January, 2012, the Kindness Challenge intends to inspire one million acts of kindness throughout the world.
People who want to make a difference in the world are needed to help spread the word and participate in the Kindness Challenge. It’s free, and it’s simple. Doing something nice for others feels great, and it makes others feel great too. Most importantly, it can start a domino effect,
connecting people around the world through kindness and generosity.
Small acts of kindness can be as simple as a smile, sending a card, opening a door or helping someone in need. One million acts of kindness creates momentum that will change people’s lives and positively shift the world.
To participate in the Kindness Challenge, or learn more, follow us on Facebook, and check out our blog at: http://www.kindnesschallenge2012.wordpress.com