113. Small Acts, Lasting Impact: Making (and Keeping) Service-Focused Resolutions

What if your New Year’s resolutions focused less on doing more for yourself and more on doing a little more for others?

In this first episode of 2026, I’m sharing why service-focused resolutions matter—and simple, sustainable ways to give back without overwhelm. From slowing down in daily interactions to using your words, time, and talents for good, these small shifts can make a big difference.

If you’re looking for meaningful goals, simple ways to serve, or a fresh perspective on giving and receiving, this episode is for you. 🤍

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Transcript

Melissa: Welcome to the Do Something More podcast, the show all about service where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more.

If you're passionate about nonprofits or looking for simple ways to volunteer and give back to the causes that matter to you,

this is the podcast for you.

I'm your host Melissa Draper.

Stick around and I'll show you all the many ways anyone can truly make a difference in our world today.

Welcome to this episode of the Do Something more podcast, the first for 2026.

I have a lot of great episodes already that are coming up this year, great nonprofits that we are highlighting, but today it is going to be just me talking about making and keeping service focused resolutions.

I know here at the beginning of the year many of us are thinking about resolutions,

making and keeping goals and I wanted to share why. I think you might want to put some service focused resolutions on that list of goals you are making.

But first I want to just give a couple of friendly reminders if you are not already. If you could go subscribe and follow the podcast wherever you listen to this podcast that helps me get more listeners and help people find this uplifting content.

Or you can always follow me on social media as well and I leave the links to all of those in the show. Notes let's get into this episode. Many people are thinking about resolutions right now at the beginning of the year, in January.

I've always been someone who loves making goals and my birthday is in January as well. So it has always felt natural to me to set goals this time of year.

I think it's exciting. I don't think it's cliche.

The last few years especially,

I've been very intentional with it.

I try to keep those goals or those resolutions small and doable and I try to focus on real things I've observed in my life. I want to tweak or places I want to grow.

It's not usually about a big, huge change. It's more about tidying the corners.

That's a phrase I heard someone use recently and I really like it.

How can I tidy up some dusty corners in my life?

How can I simply tweak things here or there to improve?

What are simple ways I can push myself a little to grow and to learn. So that's how I approach it.

And so it has not been overwhelming for me. It's really been a great way to learn and grow and progress.

Now of course, our traditional resolutions that people do often are with health and fitness or productivity or finances. Right ways we want to Change or even make dramatic changes in our life.

So I want to introduce the idea instead of kind of tweaking or tidying up the corners like I said.

So the ideas and goals I'm going to talk about and share today are more on that end of goals and resolutions,

small tweaks, little things that we can do.

And so of course I want to introduce this area that you might not have thought of before.

Resolutions that are about giving back,

helping others,

serving in small and simple ways.

Today I'm going to first tell you why I think these resolutions are a great idea,

just in case you need a little more convincing.

And then I'm going to give you some areas and ideas for small, small, very doable goals you could make to help you live a little more service focused life.

First, let me give you the why beyond the usual. It's a good things to do, it makes you feel good.

Those are good whys too. But I want to give you a few more first. In my experience,

of course, these goals are very meaningful if you're wanting to add a little more depth to your life. If you're wanting to just feel a little more like you matter or you're not just slugging through the every day to day, whatever service focus goals can help bring that extra depth,

that extra meaning, that extra something you might be looking for.

Also, a lot of these goals can be sustainable because they're simple,

they're not huge, and they bring good feelings with them. And when we feel those good feelings, we are more likely to want to keep giving them a try and being consistent with them.

And also these resolutions,

I feel like they have a domino effect when you are making a conscientious effort to think more about others in a good healthy way, not an overwhelming have to be everything for everyone way, but in a good altruistic way.

It really can affect the other areas of your life and help you find momentum and those other changes you want to make. It brings so many good things to our lives.

Also, service focused resolutions can bring a much needed mental shift.

Sometimes we have spent a little too much time focusing inward or how can I improve myself? What do I have to do to be better?

And these resolutions help you tweak things to focus more outward.

Some of us need that a little more in our life right now. So how can I take the good things I have and I'm already doing and use them to help other people?

Of course, having service oriented resolutions is very fulfilling.

Achieving goals and making progress is already naturally fulfilling.

But adding into that Knowing that you help someone else in a small way just adds another level to that fulfillment.

That's one thing I really love about these resolutions.

And finally, call me Pollyanna, tell me I have way too positive view of the world.

You would not be the first to tell me that.

But I truly believe most people have the desire to help others,

to give back, to make a difference in their communities.

We all want to know that we matter,

that other people need us.

And I think we all naturally want to help other people in the best ways that we personally can.

So having simple service focused resolutions can help you finally find a way to effectively act on those feelings.

It really is a beautiful thing to put actions and doing to the values we hold and espouse and the things we say are important to us.

To be able to put them into action and not just talk about them is so empowering.

That's my final reason for why you might want to think about having a service focused resolution or goal this year.

Don't just talk about what you want to see done in the world or how things should be.

Have some doing with that. Add some action.

Put action to the values that you hold.

And as you know, on this show, I'm all about giving you real ideas and motivation and ways you can make it happen.

Here are some areas I want to focus on to give you these small little ideas and tweaks for the kind of goals you could make if you want to have a more service oriented year this year, or if you want to be the kind of person that turns outward and thinks about other people again in good,

healthy ways that are good for us, not overwhelming ways, but good, simple, doable ways.

The first area I want to talk about is really where I think you can come up with these tiny little tweaks that you can be successful with.

It's to make simple goals,

to slow down and be more intentional in your interactions with other people.

So really it's in our everyday interactions we have with all the people in our life.

That is where the best opportunities to serve and to help really show up.

But to be able to do those things, to serve those around us,

we have to notice those opportunities.

And noticing them usually means really focusing,

slowing down,

being intentional.

What can these goals look like? What am I talking about here? Well, let me give you actually one example that I did a few years ago. Just a couple years ago,

I made a very simple goal to make more eye contact.

So I had noticed that many times I was rushing or focusing on the next thing.

And as a Mom of young kids or mom. Sometimes I'm focusing on my kids, which isn't always bad.

But I realized in some areas I wasn't truly interacting or really seeing the people around me like I should.

So that was my goal.

Make more eye contact.

Not in a creepy way,

but an intentional one. And I noticed as I tried to do this more, how many other people actually struggle to do this too? There were times I was trying to make that eye contact with someone and they never even once looked up at me in the interaction that we were having together.

But despite that,

this one simple goal led to so many good interactions for me with strangers,

with acquaintances and friends with my family.

It allowed me to thank people like the cashier at the grocery store or the attendant at the dmv. Because I was being more intentional in my interaction with them, I naturally made it more intentional when I was trying to make eye contact.

It allowed me to notice more how friends or neighbors were feeling when I was chatting with them.

Noticing that they might be a little more down and having the opportunity to listen or to lift them up,

trying to have more eye contact left me to listening a lot more,

having really good conversations with my family members as well. It was great for my personal,

really close relationships.

So it was a simple goal. It was a simple tweak that even if I forgot about it for a minute, I could be like, oh yeah, I'm working on making more eye contact.

It was easy to add it back in and to do it and be more intentional with it.

And it really let me serve and help other people. So that's one idea of what I'm talking about, of these little tweaks that can help you be more intentional in your interactions with others.

So another one that goes along with this as I talked about slowing down,

so making that a goal,

saying I'm going to slow down just a little bit in my day to day life.

I'm going to take a breath,

not going to be so eager to rush off to the next thing or so focused on my to do list that I don't slow down and really observe the situations that I'm in.

When I've worked on doing that,

I see chairs that need to be put up or cleaned up or things I can help with at a school or church activity. When I slow down, I really see people when I'm out and about doing errands who can use a little help or assistance or friendly hello.

Just the other day I saw a sweet woman buying some roses at Smith's and I just stopped and commented how beautiful they were and asked her if she was giving them to someone special and she told me she was going home to give them to the Virgin Mary.

And so it left to a beautiful conversation about her religious and spiritual beliefs. Just little things like that happen when you scare down. When I slow down, I take the time to go over and talk to my neighbor when I'm getting my mail and I see them there outside instead of just hurrying off to the next thing.

So those are some ideas of things I'm giving you on this. Make the goal to slow down,

observe things around you.

This is a great small and simple shift you can make to help you be more service oriented.

So hopefully you get the idea of what I'm talking about here.

This is how you can make service focused goals. They don't have to be huge, they don't have to be monumental changes. They can be tiny little shifts that help you in your goal of wanting to be more outward and pay attention and help other people.

So just think about that for a minute. What is one simple, doable thing you can work on that will help you to be more intentional in your interactions with other people and then see how doing that really brings those opportunities to light with strangers, with friends, with neighbors,

or even your family and the people in your own home.

The second area I want to talk about I have talked about this on the podcast a lot.

A whole lot.

But I'm going to say it again because I don't think it can be said enough in our world today.

And that is to use the power of your words to serve.

Make a goal to give more compliments to people and share the natural good thoughts you had about them.

Make a goal to write one or two thank you notes a month to people who have helped you or your family in small and meaningful ways.

Send at least one text a week to encourage a family member or a friend.

Make a commitment to be more uplifting and positive in the posts and comments you leave on social media.

Write one review a month for a small business you visit and enjoy in your city or community.

The list goes on and on. Do you see? Do you see how many opportunities there are to use the power of your words to serve?

And it takes no money and really just a small amount of effort and time to serve in this way.

But what's so great about that is even though it just takes that small effort from us,

it can be so impactful in some instances. I have experienced this for myself in the good words people have left with me and the good words I've had the opportunity to share.

But in some instances,

people remember those good, kind words you left with them forever.

This can be a great way to serve,

and it can be an easy way to make a small and simple service focused goal. Okay, the third area I want to talk about is one that might take a little more effort from you.

But if you're wanting to really punch things up a notch, really make this part of your life, I wanted to include this idea, this area.

Think of ways you can use what you specifically have to give and then go and give it.

So this one might take a little more brainstorming from you, a little more effort,

but I want to give you some ideas on this. So if you have time, you can give. If you're in a stage of your life where you're finding you have a little extra time and you're wanting to use that time in good productive ways,

give of your time. Find a nonprofit in your area or go on a website like justserve.org find opportunities to volunteer.

Maybe you could even commit for a year to an ongoing volunteer opportunity. You have one day a week that you go into your local food pantry and you serve and you help.

There are so many good nonprofits.

You can go scroll back through all the episodes that I've done. I've shared so many nonprofits and there are ways you can find them in your own community.

This is a great one too. If you have a resolution to get more involved in your community or to make friends or to meet other people or to learn a new skill,

all of those things can be accomplished by volunteering at a nonprofit. It's a great way to serve.

So maybe instead of time,

maybe you have a little money to give and you want to help in that way. So think of the causes that matter most to you.

Find a non profit that fits that. Again, you can use my podcast as a resource and sign up to donate five or ten dollars a month.

So we had a guest here just recently last month on the podcast share how those recurring spirits Small donations can be so vital to nonprofit organizations and it only takes a few minutes to sign up and commit to something like that.

You could literally take care of your resolution in about five to 10 minutes by going to their website and signing up to donate just five or ten dollars a month.

So maybe instead of time or money, maybe you have a specific talent that you would like to share.

For example, my husband is a software engineer. He shares and serves with his computer skills frequently. People reach out to him and he's just willing to help in those instances and ways that he can.

Or maybe Are you musical?

You could share that talent. Our family's musical. We've gone many times to our local care center to share our musical skills.

Are you good at social media and content creation? So many nonprofits could use those skills.

So think of those talents and areas that you can share with others,

those talents that you have. Maybe you're good with kids or teenagers and your school might have, your local schools might have some volunteer opportunities. There's so many ways that you can approach this.

That's the third area I wanted to share.

Think of what you have specifically to give and share what you enjoy sharing even,

and find ways that you can use that skill to create those service focused goals and to help the people around you.

As I've shared these ideas,

I hope that you have thought of maybe at least one goal you could add to your New Year's resolutions this year.

To be more service focused,

make a difference for others.

And I would stress, as you're thinking about it, make it sustainable.

It can be one little tweak, one small thing you want to do to help you draw your focus more outward.

And I love sustainable goals because even if we have a week or two that was rough and we fell off for a little bit,

when it's small and doable enough, you can just jump right back into it and try again.

And so it's a great way to stay focused and consistent with a goal.

Before we end this show though,

I want to share one more idea of a resolution that was transformative for me.

Several years ago, when my kids were still young, I had an experience where my oldest three had participated in the elementary Science fair and they all did really well.

It was awesome. They all got prizes and first and second place and it was really cool.

Because of that. I had many people complimenting me on my kids and my family.

And during that influx of compliments,

something came to my realization really quick that I was a pretty poor receiver.

I did not know how to just simply be grateful and receive a compliment. I batted them down or contradicted them.

And as I thought about that more, I realized I wasn't very good at receiving in other areas too.

So then that became my goal that year because that science fair was in January.

So I quickly decided this is going to be my goal.

That was to be a better receiver,

to open myself up to the good others were trying to offer me or send my way and to remove whatever preconceived notions I had about that and to just accept it and feel it freely.

That was a huge shift for me to be able to receive and accept all that kindness and goodness.

But it was very much needed and it has served me well in the years that have followed since. It's helped me to see how necessary it is to be a good receiver as well.

So I'm going to add that goal too. Maybe you're like me and maybe right now in your life because of a variety of reasons.

You don't need a resolution to be more service oriented.

Maybe you need to learn how to be a better receiver to better receive acts of kindness and service that the people around you are trying to give.

I truly believe that service and giving back and helping others doesn't work if there aren't any willing receivers.

We have to have receivers to have givers.

And truly in reality, giving and receiving are equally beautiful and sacred acts.

One is not better than the other equal.

And hopefully if we're doing things right,

we will all get opportunities in our lives to do both to be givers and to be receivers.

So I wanted to leave that thought for maybe even just one person that needed to hear that and have that reminder today.

So that's my final word on resolutions,

on making and keeping service focused resolutions.

Let me just go over those areas one more time. 1.

Think of a simple goal you could do to slow down and be more intentional in your interactions with other people.

2.

Use the power of your words to serve. There are so many different ways you can do this.

Use them, act on them.

And three Think of ways you can use what you specifically have to give or what you enjoy giving and come up with ways that you could set a goal to use what you have to give to serve others.

And finally that final thought. Maybe your goal this year needs to be on how to be a better receiver instead of a better giver.

Those are my thoughts I would love to hear. If you want to contact me, you can through the podcast. You can send me a message or message me on social media.

If you try or want to do any of these goals, I would love to hear about it.

Also, if you enjoyed this episode, if you appreciated the inspirational and good content that I shared here today,

share it with a family member, a friend, a neighbor, anyone you thought of that might benefit from the things we talked about.

And of course I will always take five star ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen to this podcast.

And this week and hopefully this year I hope that you can find a way to do something more to help lift, inspire, or make a difference.

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