“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
One of the best ways to create a happier life for yourself is to make other people happier.
Why?
- You see it. You’ll feel happier as someone’s face lights up with joy.
- You did a good thing. You’ll feel happier because you feel you have done a good thing. And so your self-esteem shoots up too.
- You get what you give. In the long run you tend to be treated by others as you treat them. Plus, the way you treat and think about others also tends to be the way you treat and think about yourself.
So how can you make someone happier?
Here are 24 quite quick things you can start doing today. Pick one and see how it can affect someone in your life.
Bonus: Download a free step-by-step checklist that includes all the 24 ways to make someone happy (it’s easy to save as a PDF or print out for whenever you need it during your day or week).
1. Give a sincere compliment. Many positive things tend to go unsaid. So give someone a sincere compliment today. It can mean especially much if it’s for something that is close to the other person’s heart. Or something he or she has been putting in a good effort with like getting into better shape for the last few months.
2. Let someone into your lane while you’re driving. It can unstress his or her day quite a bit.
3. Hold the door open for a few extra seconds. It doesn’t take much of an effort but it can put a smile on someone’s face.
4. Express your gratitude for what is too often taken for granted. We may sometimes take what others do a bit too much for granted. Like the food they cook, how they keep doing their job consistently each and every day or how to they are there to listen when we need it.
5. Share some of your tasty homemade cookies. Or bread, ice cream or jerky.
6. Give away a piece of your hobby. Like a bracelet or a drawing you have made for instance.
7. Share some of your fall harvest. For example some jam, canned vegetables or dried delicious mushrooms or fruit.
8. Encourage. The world can be a tough and discouraging place at times. So encourage someone who is in a negative situation at the moment. Add your own perhaps more grounded and optimistic perspective on the situation to lessen his or her worries and perhaps exaggerated fears.
9. Tell a good – or terrible – joke. Or a funny story about something that happened to you last week.
10. Share something funny you found online. Play one of your favorite clips from a stand-up show you love if you are out of jokes and good stories at the moment.
11. Share a Spotify-playlist with the most inspiring and uplifting songs you know. Send it to a friend that needs it right now. Or share it with family, friends or co-workers on social media.
12. Give a stranger a compliment. Few things can brighten a day like getting a kind and unexpected compliment from someone you pass by or you have just met. So take a few seconds and give that to someone you encounter today and tell her how nice her shoes, hat or hairstyle looks. Or ask him where he where he got that cool t-shirt or umbrella.
13. Help out practically with advice. If a friend needs some help then ask someone you know who has been in that situation for advice. Or do a bit of online research to find what he she might be looking for.
14. Pick some flowers. It only takes few minutes but the joy lasts for days.
15. Give a hug. It unstresses and it can disrupt negative thoughts and change someone’s mood surprisingly quickly. Use when appropriate though.
16. Cook their favorite food if they have had a bad day. I know from my own life that it can really cheer me up on such days.
17. Get their favorite takeout food. If you want a quicker option than cooking a meal when they are having a crummy day. A variation on this idea is to get just a small piece of their favorite chocolate or other treat.
18. Bring something nice for the coffee break at work. Maybe some sweet fruit, like clementines. Or some fancy and really tasty tea. Or maybe something from the local bakery. This can be big cheer up especially during this often dark and cold time of the year.
19. Smile. Even if you’re only spending 30 seconds on talking to the cashier in the supermarket checkout line.
20. Run an errand or do one chore for that person. It can be big stress reducer if he or she is having a hectic day.
21. Just listen. It’s sometimes all that’s needed to help someone out of a negative headspace.
22. Bring a cup of tea or coffee the way that person likes it. It only takes a minute while you are already up and getting a hot beverage for yourself.
23. Hide a secret note for him or her to find. A note of thankfulness. Or a note with a compliment. Or simply a note of love. Hide it in their tea container, lunch box or hat for example.
24. Bring the positivity. If you bring positivity and an open, happy and good energy into a conversation for example then that tends to spread and the two of you or more will have happier lunch break, evening down at the pub or coffee date in the crisp autumn sunshine.
Here’s the next step…
Now, you may think to yourself:
“This is really helpful information. But what’s the easiest way to put this into practice and actually make someone or many people happy in my everyday life?”
Well, I’ve got something special for you…
A free step-by-step checklist that includes all the steps in this article… save it or print it out so you have it for your daily life and for the next time when you want to make someone in your life happier.
Download it now by entering your email below.
Henrik Edberg is the creator of the Positivity Blog and has written weekly articles here since 2006. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Gothenburg and has been featured on Lifehacker, HuffPost and Paulo Coelho’s blog.
Comments on this entry are closed.
Whenever they are gossiping about you on work or school, just ignore them and be positive. Do good things to them so they will change their impression about you.
#12 Or rather just let the flowers be… Appreciate their natural beauty, inhale their wondrous scent, admire their intricate shapes, but leave them where they are. Overcoming the urge to clame something for yourself can actually feel more rewarding than giving into that of snatching it up.
I would suggest instead… Buy a small potted plant, and make a vow to yourself today to take care of it. That would make anyone happy :)
So good to be reminded of the difference we can make in someone else’s happiness. Thank you! You are wonderful!
These were some awesome points! I do a couple of them naturally but now I know more on how to cheer someone up. Thanks a lot! ^_^
These are great suggestions! I especially like the quote at the beginning from Eleanor Roosevelt. It is so true. The times we are happiest is when we are serving others. It is so easy to forget that. Thank you for the great reminder.
I try to make people laugh. Or sometimes I just make a point of actually looking at them and engaging. Or I make cookies and share them which makes them happy and prevents me from getting too fat.
Apart from these- all of them do work- I would like to point out maybe the most obvious one: charity of any kind , any size…Smaller or bigger gifts and donations, daily giveaways, unexpected presents to people you know or you don’t know, or even actions of care, are all considered as “injections” of happiness not only to the receiver but to me too.
Not sure about number 5. Do you really think that giving someone a sugary treat leads to happiness? I have seen so much unhappiness associated with people eating sugary treats (in the USA anyway), that I just don’t want to be a part of it. I understand that people eating sugary treats are happy while eating it, but often these people are overweight and often because they eat too many sugary treats which leads to unhappiness most of every other moment throughout the day. I have been there…so I can only speak of my experience, but talking with others that are and have been overweight…they feel/have felt the same. A sugary treat makes someone happy at the moment, but it is the only suggestion above that could actually be part of the reason for a person’s moment to moment unhappiness.
The positivity blog is a curtain raiser for a better living, more power to your elbow.
Thank you Henrik for the wonderful messages that you share….. all the time! Today’s “21 quick ways to make someone happy” messages are so true and appropriate. We tend to take things for granted and/or constantly looking for the big things that we think will make us happy, when it is the simple things in life that we already know and tend to forget quickly and become unhappy/miserable at times. Thank you for the reminder.
Have a happy day!
Regards,
Margaret
Thanks! Felt very nice after reading this. I will try to implement and enjoy myself. I have seen the happiness on peoples’s face when we do something for them . If some can’t express gratitude then let go and continue to help.
Wonderful things to do to make someone’s day better! If we could all just do a few of these a day, wouldn’t the world be such a better place? Love this article.
Hi Henrik, a lovely happy article thank you. My husband and I are working hard to support our 20 yr old son who is clinically depressed and has dropped out of university. In all the care for him we are forgetting to love ourselves – this was a timely reminder to make a special effort to make my husband smile : )
thank you
Lisa
I love you posts, thank you so much. I thought it was a good moment to say.. They always put a smile on my face :) Especially good thought about the driving, I think I need to try this more! Have a lovely day
love your work!!!! thank you and God Bless