Day Sixteen: I Went Out of My Way to Make Someone Smile

Today, the junior and senior class went to College Planning Days.  And besides making me completely overwhelmed and stressed out about what I want to do after senior year, I saw this an a opportunity to go out of my way to make someone smile.

This college planning day featured multiple tables set up in a gym by a college representative.  On the tables were informational pamphlets and pens to advertise and promote a college or university.  The best part about this college planning day is that when you ask a representative five questions, you get a ticket.  The tickets allow you to win prizes.

My boyfriend and his cousin were at this career fair.  And they really wanted tickets.  So instead of just blowing them off, and getting my own tickets, I decided to help them out.

My positive act of kindness was going out of my way to make sure that they had tickets to get a prize.

Yes, I know, it’s a superfluous matter.  After all, life will go on if my boyfriend and his cousin don’t have technical institute hats.  But, I know that it would make them smile.  And I like making people happy.

So, I went around searching for tickets.  After about a half hour, my boyfriend, his cousin, and I had twenty tickets each.

Boo-ya!  TEAM WORK!

And do you know what I did with my technical institute hat?  I gave it to the bus driver.

Today was a good day.

J

A Challenge For YOU

Since today is the fifteen day of Project Positivity, I think I should take the time to remind all of you guys about some things.  After all!  This project is almost half way done!

This is a cutting from a blog I did at the very, very beginning of this journey.

I challenge you.

As I go about my journey of positive acts, you can choose to take it with me. To do this you can either silently read this blog before bed. You can share this blog by word-of-mouth, Facebook...

Or you can actually take part in it.

And I mean REALLY taking part in it- the positivity, the journals, the WHOLE sha-bang.

Whichever you choose to do is fine with me (I want as many people as possible to know about this blog!), but I strongly hope you choose to journal along with me.

In the end, you may not only feel better about YOURSELF, but I have a plan. If I see that you have made a real, conscious, month-long effort with me, I will donate $10 to a charity of YOUR choice. Of course, I'll have to approve it- I don't want to donate to the "Let's Steal Candy From Small Children Foundation" - but more then likely, whichever one you choose will be fair game.

I will do this for every person who documents their month-long efforts, up to 50 people. To clarify, I will donate at a maximum of $500 OF MY OWN MONEY at the end of this challenge. (I wanted to go higher, but my mom keeps reminding me that I have college to pay for.)

To document the month, you can email me your completed journals at ProjectPositivity2013@yahoo.com. It is recommended that you use Microsoft Word. If for some reason, you don't like/can't use Microsoft Word, just email the journals to me normally at the end of the month. This challenge will start on September 10st, 2012 until November 12st, 2012*. That means that the latest you can start this challenge is October 11st, 2012*.

Comment if you have ANY questions or concerns, as well as if you plan on journaling along with me! :)

I decided to just use a cutting of an old blog because it really explains everything perfectly.  HOWEVER.  *I don't think I'm gettin the word out enough that I want people to journal with me.  So I MIGHT, extend the end date.

IMPORTANT DATES:

September 10th- I started this project! 

October 11th- I will be done with my 31 day project. This was set to be the latest day you can start your own journals. HOWEVER, I may extend this deadline depending on how many people tell me they are going to journal with me. 

November 12th- This will be the last day I'll accept jounrals (you know, unless I have to extend the starting deadline.)

WHAT I'M ASKING OF YOU:

Read My Daily Blogs- I put a lot of work into my blogs.  Comment if you like them!

Spread the Word- I'm talking Facebook, Twitter, ANY SOCIAL MEDIA at all!(:

JOURNAL!- These journals don't have to be extravagant.  They don't have to be long.  They don't have to well writen.  Just tell me what you did to make the world a better place to live today.

Day Fifteen: DEW You Look Thirsty or What!?

Today's blog is short, but I think that's a good thing.

Not all acts of kindness have to be a big deal to make big difference.

I don’t know about anyone else’s community, but in mine everyone begs, borrows, and steals quarters to get something to drink from the pop machine.  So, today, I did a small act of kindness.  I got twenty dollars’ worth of quarters and made these signs:

I walked around my town and put them on pop machines.  I did have to adjust how many quarters are on each (The school’s pop was $1.50.  The other pop machines were on $0.50.), but I used the complete twenty dollars.

As I was walking around, taping these, I imagined all the smiles that I could be creating.  Hopefully I made some one's day.  It was nerve racking though.  I wanted this project to be a complete surprise to everyone- I was scared someone would catch me taping these signs!

I hope YOU have a good day!

Day Fourteen: Trying my Best

So yesterday, like I said in my last post, I was a server in training.  TODAY, I AM a server.  I got to be on my own with tables, writing orders, typing them into the computer, taking everything to the table…I didn’t realize how much room for error there was as a waitress!  Which, luckily!  I haven’t made many mistakes yet- yet being the operative word.  (As I’m typing this, it’s only 4:15.  I have to go back to work at 5.)

Today my positive act of the day is trying my best.

I’m not going to lie- waitressing makes me nervous.  I want SO bad to be great at it.  But, I decided instead of trying for perfection, I should just try for the best I’m capable of doing.

When you try your best at something, everyone benefits.  For instance, in my situation today, trying my best at waitressing benefits the restaurant by increasing sales or introducing people to a great restaurant that people want to come back to.  By increasing sales and creating “regulars,” I can do my part to increase my co-workers wages since a percentage of my tips gets evenly distributed throughout the restaurant.

By trying my best, I feel accomplished.  And rightfully so!  Even if I fail miserably, at least I know I gave it the best I had.  If I would try for perfection, I would constantly let myself down.  No one is perfect-especially on their very first day.

Your best is all anyone should ever ask of you, ya know.  That’s all you should ever ask of YOURSELF!  So, do me a favor?  Next time you are pressured to be flawless, remember this:

“There are two kinds of perfect: The one you can never achieve, and the other, by just being yourself.” -Lauren King