Puppies!

Alright.

Ever go to your favorite coffee shop and when you get to the front to pay, you discover the person before you picked up the tab?

It's a nice warm feeling, right?

Even better than your morning coffee, if that's even possible.

So what do you do?

Keep it going.

The best thing about generosity is, it spreads.

Research has shown that people who experience the generosity of others are more likely to pay it forward.

Being generous puts people in a good mood and tends to make them more generous, and generous people are more attractive as we know, and they will surely go on to breed more generous babies and continue the cycle.

I have it all summed up in this chart.

See?

Easy.

Really the trick to kicking off this whole cascade is getting that one domino at the top to fall.

Don't believe me?

Good.

Then I get to do another experiment.

We brought in a group of volunteers and gave them the chance to do something really fun.

Okay, today you guys are gonna play with...

Oh!

Puppies!

Yes!

This is the day!

Oh my God!

That is great.

We told participants they got to play in the pen with the pups for five minutes.

Hello there!

Oh my goodness gracious!

Do you want a belly rub?

Yes, you do.

Yes, you do.

This is what I imagined heaven looks like.

Alright gents, so your five minutes in the pen is up.

Oh.

So there's a little bit more we have to do today.

I'm gonna give you guys a choice.

We're still gonna compensate you for your time, as agreed.

Okay.

But you have an opportunity to make an additional $50.

Great, I'm on it.

So, hand you that.

You can either take the $50, just put it in your pocket, go home or you can pass on the $50, and if you pass on the additional $50, the person after you will also get five minutes to play with the puppies.

The person before you was given this same choice and they chose to pass on the $50 which is why you guys got to play with the puppies and now it's your turn to make a decision.

Wait, so it's either we get $50 bucks or somebody else gets to play with puppies for five minutes?

Right.

That's really tough.

I don't know what to do!

Oh, like...

I mean...

I'm gonna give it back.

How do you think?

Yeah.

If somebody just takes the fifty, which they can, then the person who would've gone after them, we just say, thank you very much for your time and then we show them the door.

No!

Then yeah, I'm gonna give up my $50.

You're gonna pass on the $50?

Yep.

Alright.

I'll pass on the $50 too.

You're also giving up the $50.

It just doesn't feel right to me, so I'm gonna give it back to you.

Yeah, because they let us play with puppies.

Yeah, I can't.

This is too good, they gotta be here.

Everyone needs a puppy.

I'm not gonna deny anyone the opportunity to play with puppies.

There's so much we don't agree on in the world, I think.

We can give people time to play with puppies.

Puppies are like the one thing...

Okay folks, we're on a roll but how long can we keep it going?

Let 'em play with puppies?

Let 'em play with puppies.

Easy decision.

I have to let them have time with the puppies.

Okay.

Yep.

I'll let other people come play.

Alright, I'll let them play with the puppies.

I wanna let someone else play with the puppies.

Oh, puppy time, definitely.

I'm gonna need that $50 back then.

You can take this back.

Just like that?

Yeah.

Oof!

At the end of the day, 24 out of 25 participants kept that generosity wave rolling.

For some of them, it was easy and for others, it was a bit harder.

I'm feeling, I'm feeling like indifferent 'cause I'm like yo, I don't know them but I'd be pissed if like someone was like okay, bye.

It's just money, like, how many times do you get to play with puppies?

It's like make someone's week, you know?

Everybody deserves to have a little happiness in their day, I mean, like, look at this face.

Would this not like brighten your day?

This just brought me joy and I wouldn't want to take that away from someone else because money is money.

Did hearing that somebody else decided to give up their $50 and let you guys come in, did that have an effect on your decision at all?

It definitely for me made me more likely give the money back just 'cause I was like, oh, other people chose to be that selfless so I'm gonna follow suit.

It's kind of like a pay it forward, kindness begets kindness.

The people before me made this decision to let me play with them and I had a fun time with them, I think it's worth it to pass that on.

You put good vibes into the world, you get good vibes back, I think.

Because everyone wants to jump on board when they see what's going on and then it can become something much bigger than the original person thought.

It doesn't take much to put people in a giving mood.

Just a little generosity from the get go, a little nudge of kindness and that generosity snowball starts rolling, picking up speed and growing.

If you see kindness and generosity in the world, don't be afraid to act on it and if you don't see it, start it because others will see what you do and pass it on.