Random Acts of Kindness Triathlon

In honor of this year's #RandomActsOfKindnessWeek, we dug into SoulPancake's happiness archives to find this kindness triathlon.

Back in 2005 a study was conducted that found wellbeing benefits for people who conducted 5 or more random acts of kindness in a single day. SoulPancake gathered participants to put this study to the test by packing a day full of good deeds.

Participants of this experiment started off by returning carts at a grocery store parking lot. Next they were asked to order takeout, coffee, and get the valet to wash their van. For each one, they were told to leave a $40 tip.

After that they were asked to take the food they ordered and give it to someone who needed it. The kind deeds continued with a request to approach random strangers and give them a compliment.

The experiment concluded with one final random act of kindness. All participants were tasked with calling a person they knew who was struggling with something, and giving them some words of encouragement.

As a result of the day of kindness, participants saw an average increase in happiness of 9.3% with the highest increase being 22%.

Start of this year's #RandomActsOfKindnessWeek by taking some time to do good deeds for other people. There's a good chance you'll feel happier afterwards so give it a try!