I write my own blog posts, but this week I’m borrowing one from management coach Donald Cooper’s excellent newsletter. He borrowed it from a gentleman named Randy Phillips. who makes an excellent point about the importance of being an encourager,

Sometimes you come out of a restaurant or grocery store and there are kids with a little table set up. You try not to make eye contact with them. It’s like, “If I pretend I don’t see them, I won’t have to buy anything.”

Get over there! Go to that table! They’ve got wrapping paper. You can buy it half-price somewhere else, or you don’t need it? What you need isn’t the issue. Get over there and buy what the kids are selling.

They’ve got cookies. You don’t eat cookies? This isn’t about what you eat!

Here’s what I do. I walk over to them and ask, “What’s the biggest sale you’ve made?’

The kid says, “Well, somebody bought five boxes.”

So, I say, “Give me 10. I want 10boxes of those cookies.”

At which point my wife says, “What are you going to do with 10 boxes of cookies?”

To which I reply, “I honestly don’t know. Don’t worry about it.”

It’s all about the look on the kids’ faces when they make a sale and grow more confident. My actions are telling them that this is how business works: you have something of value, you have the guts to ask for the order, and I give you money.

Give a child the gift of encouragement and hope. It takes only a moment. Then you can give away the thing you bought and explain why you bought it in the first place.

Acting with kindness is contagious. Perhaps the recipient of your gift will be inspired to do the same.