1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics, hacks, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: and rituals used by the world's most successful people to 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: get so much out of their day. I'm your host, 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,240 Speaker 1: Doctor Amantha. I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of innovation 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: consultancy Inventium, and I'm obsessed with finding ways to optimize 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: my workday. Now I am in the middle of running 7 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: a year long experiment called My Year of Better. It's 8 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: basically my attempt to test out some science backed strategies 9 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,879 Speaker 1: in my own life to become happier, more productive, more creative, 10 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,160 Speaker 1: and less stressed. If you'd like to play along at home, 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: you can join my pack of over sixteen hundred lab 12 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:50,279 Speaker 1: rats if you go to my Yearofbetter dot com. Now, 13 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: on today's show, I wanted to take you through experiment 14 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: three Minor Acts of Kindness in case you do want 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: to play along at home. If you read about last 16 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: fortnight's experiment about creating a failure resume, and if you 17 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: read my failure resume, which you can find at my 18 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: Yearfbetter dot com, you will have seen that twenty sixteen 19 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: was a pretty rough year for me. Now, what I 20 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: didn't share is that twenty fifteen wasn't much better. Towards 21 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: the middle of that year, I had two key staff 22 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: members resign, which at the time represented twenty five percent 23 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: of the team, as there are only eight of us 24 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: back then at Inventium. Now, resignations are tough at the 25 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: best of times, but this situation was horrible. Not only 26 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: were these two consultants heading off to start their own consultancy, 27 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: the manner in which they left the business created a 28 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: ton of ethical, moral, and financial challenges for me to 29 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: deal with and to deal with urgently to keep Inventium afloat. 30 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: The week following on from the resignations the single most 31 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: stressful week I have had in Inventium's thirteen year life 32 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: thus far. Now, one morning, soon after all the drama 33 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,359 Speaker 1: had died down and the business found a new rhythm, 34 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,640 Speaker 1: I was working away on a report at my computer. 35 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: I looked up and I noticed that the team had 36 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:22,919 Speaker 1: all come around to my desk, and one of them 37 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: was holding a gift wrap box. A couple of members 38 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: of the team launched into a speech thanking me for 39 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: how I'd managed the whole situation. They told me I 40 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: was calm under pressure, I was decisive and respectful, and 41 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: made them feel like they were in secure and caring 42 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: hands under my leadership. I started to tear up. This 43 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: was completely unexpected, and then I opened up the box. 44 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: The team had made me a custom designed pair of 45 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: Converse sneakers, which was my footwear of choice at the time, 46 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: with the Inventium bubbles embroidered on the side. You'll know 47 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: what I mean if you know the Inventium logo. To 48 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: this day, these sneakers remain the most thoughtful gift I 49 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: have received in my life. I still have them in 50 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: my wardrobe. Five years on and many kilometers later, I 51 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: think back to this moment relatively often. It's one of 52 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: the happiest memories that I have of leading Inventium, and 53 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: when I reflect on it, what I find interesting is 54 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: that it was a completely unexpected and unsolicited act of kindness, 55 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: and it reminded me of a debate that consumed me 56 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: many years prior. So, about two decades ago, I was 57 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 1: in the middle of my hardest year in academia, my 58 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: Psychology honors. Here my doctorate was literally a walk in 59 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: the park compared to that horrible, intense year that was Honors. 60 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: The hours were long, the workload was high, and the 61 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: expectations were even higher. My final score one little number 62 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: determine whether I was accepted into the doctoral program. As 63 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: a result of this intensity, I was constantly on the 64 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: lookout for outlets of procrastination, pleasure, and distraction, and one 65 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: such outlet came in the form of almost daily intellectual 66 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 1: debates with one of the faculty members, Mal about the 67 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: existence of altruism, defined by Oxford as a selfless concern 68 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: for the well being of others. Now. Mal's position was 69 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: that altruism did not exist. Everything we did as humans 70 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: was ultimately driven by selfish motivations to make ourselves feel better. 71 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: My physician was the opposite. As a somewhat naive and 72 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,359 Speaker 1: optimistic twenty one year old, I truly believed that selfless 73 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: acts of kindness did exist. I hated the notion that 74 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: people only did things to ultimately benefit themselves. To me, 75 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: this painted a bleak picture of human nature and one 76 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: that I did not want to accept. And to this 77 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: day I am still a staunch believer in the existence 78 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: of altruism, and to me, those converse sneakers symbolized altruism 79 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: in action. Now, whether you believe in ultrumism or not, 80 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: Experiment three is about bringing more selfless acts of kindness 81 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: into the world. Although the irony of this experiment is 82 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: not lost on me, as ultimately the origin of this 83 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: experiment rests in the study that showed that this behavior 84 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: will benefit us through boosting our own happiness. Now, Professor 85 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:21,919 Speaker 1: Lynn Olden of the University of British Columbia led research 86 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: into the impact of people performing six small kind acts 87 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 1: per week for four weeks. She found that happiness increased 88 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: almost threefold within the first week. From there, the increase 89 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: was sustained for the remaining three weeks. People satisfaction with 90 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: relationships in their life also increased significantly. So if you 91 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,839 Speaker 1: want to join this experiment, here are your instructions for 92 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: the week. It's not an exact replication of Oldham's research, 93 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: but we will see if the idea still works. Now, 94 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: if you are playing along at home and you're taking 95 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: this seriously, I'd love it if you complete good complete 96 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: the pre experiment survey. All you need to do is 97 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: go to my Year Offbetter dot com and in the 98 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: show notes you'll actually see a link to the post 99 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: which will direct you to the pre experiment survey. So 100 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: we are going to be measuring with it whether this 101 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: experiment boosts happiness and relationship satisfaction. Then, over the next week, 102 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: I want you to undertake seven minor or small acts 103 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: of kindness. So a kind act is something that benefits 104 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: others or makes others happy, typically at a cost to oneself. 105 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,720 Speaker 1: Some examples might include unloading or loading the dishwasher at work, 106 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: even though it's not your job. Maybe making lunch for 107 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 1: a workmate, or buying someone a book that you think 108 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 1: they might like. Remember we're talking about minor acts of kindness, 109 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: so there is no need to buy your partner fancy 110 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: gold jewelry or something grand like that. Now consider scheduling 111 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:48,359 Speaker 1: the acts in your calendar to make sure that you 112 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: don't forget them. That's what I plan to do, And 113 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: you may choose to do one act per day, or 114 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: you might want to batch them over a couple of days, 115 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,720 Speaker 1: which is what Olden asks people to do in her experiment. 116 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,599 Speaker 1: So I get that not everyone is going to participate 117 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,279 Speaker 1: in this experiment. For me, I mentioned I've got a 118 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: group of sixteen hundred plus experimenters, and imagine if every 119 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: one of those people committed to doing seven acts of 120 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: kindness over the next seven days. That is a total 121 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: of eleven two hundred kind acts going into the world, 122 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:21,679 Speaker 1: which I think is pretty cool. So, as I mentioned, 123 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: if you want to do this experiment, I'd love it 124 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: if you do the pre experiment survey because we're setting 125 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: a baseline. Just hop on to my Yearfbetter dot com 126 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 1: and you'll find this post or hop onto the show notes. 127 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: So thank you so much for participating, and I hope 128 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: this brings you some happiness. So that is it for 129 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: today's show. If you are enjoying how I work, why 130 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: not share it with other people. All you need to 131 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: do is just hit the little share icon wherever you 132 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: listen to podcasts and you can send them this episode 133 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: or maybe just tell them about it. Maybe that could 134 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: be your kind act for today, sharing a great podcast. Anyway, 135 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: that is it for today's show and I will see 136 00:07:58,880 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: you next time.