The Five Minute Kindness List for Busy People Who Care

The busy excuse

I hear it from friends all the time and I say it myself. I want to do more good, but I am just so busy right now. Work is crazy. Family stuff is crazy. The calendar is full. Maybe next month.

I get it. Life is full. Most of us are not sitting around looking for things to fill our time. But I have started to notice something about myself. I am not too busy to scroll my phone for twenty minutes. I am not too busy to stand in the kitchen and complain about my day. So I am probably not too busy for five minutes of kindness either.

Five minutes is not much. But it is enough to change somebody’s day. So here is my five minute kindness list. Real things, small things, things you could do between meetings or while your coffee brews.

The list

The first one is the easiest. Send a text to someone you have not talked to in a while and tell them one specific thing you appreciate about them. Not just thinking of you. Something real, like, I still remember how you helped me move that summer, thank you. That takes two minutes and they might keep it forever.

Next, write a good review for a small local place you love. The taco shop. The mechanic who was honest with you. The bakery that remembers your order. Small businesses live and die on reviews, and most happy customers never leave one.

Then there is the thank you to someone who serves you. The person at the drive through. The guy who delivers your packages. The front desk lady at the doctor. Look them in the eye and say thank you like you mean it. Use their name if you can see it.

Another one I like is to pick up five pieces of trash on your walk or in the parking lot. Five minutes, five pieces. Nobody will thank you, and that is part of what makes it good.

You can also send a quick note to a teacher, coach, or boss of someone you love. Tell them they are doing a good job. People in those roles mostly hear complaints. A kind word from a parent or family member can carry them through a hard week.

Let someone go ahead of you. In line at the store, in traffic, at the coffee shop. It costs you about ninety seconds and it can soften a stranger’s whole afternoon.

Call your parents or an older relative, even for five minutes. Ask how they are and then actually listen. My parents are in their seventies and I know a quick call means more to them than I usually realize.

Give a real compliment to a coworker in front of other people. Not flattery. Something true about their work or how they treat people. Public praise is a gift that keeps working long after you say it.

And finally, say a quiet prayer or hopeful thought for someone you know is struggling. Then text them and say, thinking of you today. You do not have to fix anything. Just let them know they are not forgotten.

How to make it stick

Here is the trick that has worked for me. Do not try to do the whole list. Pick one a day. Just one. Tie it to something you already do. While the coffee brews, send the text. While you wait for the kids, write the review. While you walk to your car, pick up the trash.

After a week you will have done seven kind things. After a month, around thirty. That is thirty people whose day got a little brighter because you used five minutes on purpose.

The busy season will not end on its own. There will always be something. So do not wait for a clear calendar to start being kind. Start right in the middle of the busy. That is where it is needed most anyway.

You are never too busy for five minutes of kindness. Start with one.