The Good Deed a week challenge!

A friend of mine Drew Guest began this page on Facebook and it is a world changing event which requires minimal effort from people. From Drew:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Good-Deed-a-Week-Challenge/176327942398739?v=info

So here's the idea as the name suggests you are challenged to perform at least one good deed every week for 2011, that's only 52 good deeds throughout the year. That shouldn’t be too hard, in fact chances are, if you are looking at this page then you already come close, if not, exceed that goal already.

Why?
 
The purpose of this challenge is to bring awareness to the good deeds you do, promote the creation of good deeds and encourage the performing of good deeds when they naturally present.

Simply doing one good deed every week not only helps out an other person, animal or plant, but is intrinsically rewarding as well. Every one feels good about voluntarily helping someone out, it’s what I like to call the “Philanthropist’s High”. If you can bring your own focus on the good deeds you perform every week then you will find you are happier and less stressed, you begin seeing more positives and less negatives in your world.

This isn’t a competition, there are no prizes, and there are no losers, indeed everyone who agrees to take part in The Good Deed a Week Challenge are winners. It’s amazing how great you will feel about yourself, your outlook on life improves and those around you can’t help but feel the positive vibe you will be putting out.

What is a Good Deed

For the purpose of this challenge we will define a good deed as:

“Any act by one person that produces a positive effect or a benefit, either directly or indirectly, to another person or living being.”

A good deed could be as simple as picking up a discarded chip packet or cigarette butt, or it can be as great as donating a kidney to a family member. The “size” of the act is not important, it is the purpose of the act that is.

What isn’t counted.

Ok the following things are examples of things that don’t count towards the weekly good deed goal.

- Deeds that are a requirement of your job: sorry but being polite to a customer isn’t a good deed if your in a customer service role, nor is putting out a fire if your a fire man. Obviously these are great act’s and I encourage the and thank those who do them but for the purpose of this challenge they don’t count. You can count things that go beyond your normal job requirements, but if it is part of the job then you’ll need to find another deed for the week.

- Deeds that you would or should normally do anyway: remembering the wife’s birthday is not a good deed (for the challenge, though it’s a smart move for you safety), nor is buying a gift for a loved one on their birthday, things that are expected of you regardless of the challenge generally don’t count towards the tally.

- Using the same good deed every week. If you regularly volunteer at a homeless shelter, collect donations for charity on a regular basis or some other regular charity work then thank you, but limit the number of times you count it towards your weekly good deed challenge

Some Rules

Ok now for some rules, well, more guidelines really.

- Perform at least 1 good deed every week till the end of 2011.

- Try to have a different good deed each week.

- Please post your best good deed for the week, if you only have the opportunity to do one good deed then tell us about it, no matter how small it is, remember it’s not the size of the contribution, it’s the contribution that counts, some weeks (I hope many) yo will have done multiple good deeds tell us about the one you feel is the best.

- Do not stress if you can’t find a deed for a week, sometimes life gets in the way, remember this is not a competition and it is for your benefit just as much as it is for the recipient of your good deed.

Well that pretty well cover it, now it’s over to you guys, invite as many people as you can to join in the challenge, don’t make them feel guilty if that don’t want to and don’t listen to them if they say it’s stupid. This is an individual choice and it’s up to you. If you get another person to accept the challenge then that means you are responsible for twice the number of good deeds, you can even include the recruitment of others as a good deed. For every person that you recruit there will be at least 52 extra good deeds done each year, imagine what we could do if we had thousands of people involved for every thousand people accepting this challenge, there is 52 ,000 new good deeds done. I may be optimistic but I do believe there are many more people out there who think like I do. Lets stop giving lip service and start doing. Be proud of your efforts and lets us know what you did, it might just help others with new ideas.

Good luck every one and thank you
Drew Guest (Drgndrew)
Bushi Dojos Self Protection
Toowoomba Self Defence

Join us.... with just 2000 people doing one good deed per week for 52 weeks, we will have created over one hundred thousand acts of good worldwide. This ripple effect has the potential to make a real difference so give your support by signing up to the Good Deed a Week Challenge, and start feeling the "Philanthropist's High".

"Become the change you want to see in the world", eh? ;`) here's a chance at actually doing that so by all means... do some shit. :`)