Behavioural change? It's mental!

What a night that was! 
Polly tweeted that the evening was ‘mental’. Rose said it was ‘high energy’. Andy gave his book to a stranger he got chatting to on the train. Charlotte travelled all the way to Richmond wearing a badge that said Harlot. Mike said "I've just had the most interesting 45 minutes I've had with a stranger for a long time!"
It was the  launch of Flex: Do Something Different at the Groucho Club on Monday night.
Everyone got into the spirit of Do Something Different. Armed with a pack of Do cards they left their inhibitions at the door, donned their rhyming badges, grabbed a glass of wine and went for it!

Bald caps and black glasses (in homage to Ben Fletcher) were de rigeur for the Do team on the night. Rhyming badges made guessing people's names good fun (this is Neil above), even if Charlotte did get some funny looks on the tube going home.

One Do was to 'Pat a bald man on the head'. Not difficult with so many baldies floating around. People who didn't pat a slaphead were too busy taking off their shoes and introducing themselves to others in a foreign accent. Or gurning in the Doodio...

The Doodio was where people could go and take their own crazy photos. Weirdo expressions were optional.

Paul (or Tall as he was here) went out and befriended Darren, a Big Issue seller. He ended up giving him his Do cards, his copy of Flex, and vowing to keep in touch. A heart-warming story from what was a very chilly night, the sort of thing that happens when we talk to the least likely person...

Do Something Different always seems to lead to people doing more for others. 

I love that. A beautiful demonstration of this came from a super guy called Mike Clark. Mike bought a signed copy of our book, got everyone at the launch to sign it and then gave it back to Ben and I. What a fabulously karmic goosebumpy kind of gesture. 

That's why we're trying to get a million people to Do Something Different. It's behavioural change with a difference. It has to make the world a better place.

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Don't make an issue out of giving!

A funny thing happened to me as I walked to a meeting in London this week, across Covent Garden and Leicester Square. 

A Big Issue seller caught my eye around Cambridge Circus (I’ll leave you to ponder that image) and, as there was no-one else around (to diffuse my responsibility) I gave in and bought a copy from him.

He had no change. 

I only had a fiver.

So I gave him the fiver and he gave me the BI.

I tucked it under my arm and, spotting it there, the next three BI sellers I passed on my walk all chirped up with happy greetings, like ‘God Bless Ya Luv’. Each one made me smile and feel warm inside. Not like the shifting discomfort I usually feel as I try to sneak past them and not buy. 

It was the best fiver I’ve spent in ages.

Yet the cover price of the BI is £1.70 and, I confess, there was a bit of me that said ‘I’ve just paid £5.00 for something that costs £1.70. That’s generous.’

Not generous. Pretty mean actually.

What I’d done was give just one measly fiver to charity. 
That’s actually a mean-spirited, less-than-the-price-of-a-glass-of-wine, stingy amount to give. And I’d got so much more than a fiver’s worth back! 
Those friendly guys were brimming with appreciation and had brightened up my morning - plus I didn't have to skulk across town avoiding their eyes.

Talking to a lovely friend about this recently told me that whenever he gives money away he ends up having more. He sets up an annual pledge to give and pointed me in the direction of this website

http://www.thelifeyoucansave.com/pledge/pledge.php

I was also reminded of the US research study into the link between money and happiness. Students were given $10 to spend, either on themselves or another. When their happiness levels were measured after the study, those who had spent the money on another were twice as happy as those who’d spent it on themselves.

In Sheconomics we stress the do something different approach to giving our money mindset a makeover. So perhaps if we want more money we should  start by giving some away?