Rewarding Kindness with Jimmy Darts

0:05In a world that seems to be more selfish than selfless, a world that seems to be consumed with achieving fame just for the sake of being famous, it's nice to know that there are people like Jimmy Darts to be a world of a world that seems to be more selfish than self - he shows the value of giving, of kindness. When someone shows him generosity and kindness with no expectation of anything in return, he gives them money to say thank you. And the results are nothing short of inspiring. This is a bit of optimism.

0:52Becoming internet famous, it's like a thing now. I've read that you ask young people, what do you want to be when you grow up? And like the number one answer is influencer. As a result, I think fame should be a byproduct of having done something else. It shouldn't be the driver itself. But so many people who want to be famous, they're doing stunts and tricks and things just to gain followers. You're different. You're out there trying to promote and demonstrate kindness and values. How did your internet journey start? Like, what did you start doing? Is this how you started? So no, actually, ever since I was six years old, I was posting on YouTube, making video stuff.

1:32I was a wild kid. I just loved adrenaline and I just love messing around. And so I did a lot of crazy, wild YouTube stunts. Like I didn't know people faked their videos back in the day. I thought it was all real. So I would go to the hood and ask for drugs. And if they had drugs, I'd say, you're under arrest. I'm an undercover cop. And get their reactions and them freaking out. where I was in Australia and I like fell asleep in the middle of the highway, backed up traffic for miles, all kinds of crazy stuff. Almost got shot several times. It was just wild. Long story short, I'm 18 years old, not really knowing my direction of life, kind of living wild and I'm walking through my living room and my house and I hear this voice and it sounds like Michael Jackson, but giving a speech.

2:17It's like the most beautiful voice I ever heard. I'm like, who the heck is that voice on the TV? My mom goes, that's Billy Graham. She's like, he's a preacher. And your dad got saved going to one of his events. And I said, okay, well, interesting. So I go to my room a little bit embarrassed. Like I don't want my mom to really know I'm interested in something like this. So I look up this guy, Billy Graham on YouTube and I click on this video and it's very intense, but also I felt so loved by it. It was like heaven or hell, choose a path. You want to live for yourself. You want to serve others and all this.

2:45And me as an 18 year old kid, I had gone to church here and there, but everyone's just encouraging, encouraging. No one really kind of lays down, you know, just straight truth. I just felt like it was just so real. And so I got on my knees right there, repented, gave my life to Jesus and started that journey for me. Can you give an example of one of your favorite people you've given money to? One of my favorite kind of videos I did was it was going to be the first person to give me a hug. I was going to give him 500 bucks. And so I was like, okay, it's a good idea. You know, It wasn't that crazy, but at the end of the day, it's not about a crazy idea.

3:18It's really finding the right person and being led to the right person. I'm driving around in my car. I'm walking around different places. Six, seven hours goes by, and I just felt no peace to go and ask anyone. I always try to do it with the Holy Spirit and just go out there with Pops and try to find someone to bless. I'm like, all right, I'm not going to do this video. I'm not going to force it. I'm actually on my way home. The sun's setting. It's getting dark out. I'm like, what the heck, God? Like I thought, you know, you wanted me to do this video, but there was no one that you led me to.

3:47And on the way home, I'm driving. Also, I see this guy on his bike and I just go, that's the guy. So I whip over my Honda, pull it over, get out. And I stopped him on his bike. I say, hello, sir, excuse me. And he stops the bike with his feet because the brakes don't even work on the bike. And he's covered in paint. He's an older gentleman, not too old, but he's like, you know, he's maybe 65 years old or in his 60s. And I said, excuse me, sir. I'm sorry, man. it's safe to bother you, man. I miss my family. I've been having a long day, and I just feel lonely, man. I just need an old-fashioned hug.

4:20Sure enough, this guy, his name is Jose, man. He just embraces me. He gives me a hug. I said, Jose, I said, sir, I actually didn't need a hug really today, man, but because you were so kind, I was going to help the first person that helped me. I want to give you$500. He just starts breaking down crying in tears. I'm like, what's going on? Like, is it just the$500? Surely something more is going on than that, you know? And he tells me that day at work, the boss had paid everyone, but didn't pay him because he's from El Salvador. And because he was now a non-documented person, there's nothing he can really do legally.

4:54And so a lot of people when they're in the States take advantage of him. And the reason he's here though, is because he's trying to provide for his family in El Salvador, his wife and his kids and living there, the economy is so bad, he couldn't do it. And he actually worked for like 18 years for this guy in Vegas at a hotel. He was working. The guy promised to give him this big lump sum of money because what he needed to go home was like$40 ,000 for him to go home, take care of his family fully and just be like able to take care of him there. And sure enough, he tells me, yeah, I worked like 18 years.

5:26And on the 18th year when the deal was supposed to happen, he was supposed to pay me. I was doing maintenance, everything in the hotels for him. He just didn't pay me a dime. He was working for free for 18 years? Yeah. Well, he would get like super low pay and was promised like a big bonus at the end. He's actually like, I know where the guy lives, but I've chosen to forgive him. Even though I just delayed going home another 15 years, like I chose to forgive the guy. So me and this guy, Jose became great friends. One of the first things I did, I got him brand new teeth. There was like a surgeon in LA and it was bad.

5:59Like his teeth probably would have killed them. They were that rotten, that messed up from a work accident. And so we got him brand new teeth, took him to Disneyland. And I just started being his friend. We actually went on a little tour to Utah, Nevada, Arizona. We were on Telemundo, the news stations, just sharing our story that, man, I met him doing a kindness video. Now we're best friends. Long story short, I was able to raise through my amazing followers over$50 ,000 for this guy, Jose. Wow. And he actually moved home in time for Christmas to be back with his wife and kids who he hadn't seen in over 18 years.

6:35He sent me pictures they're embracing at the airport and he's like, I'm going to be more than fine. It costs about$10 ,000 to buy a house there. Now I can afford about five of them. And he had experience being a business owner in the past. So that was just an awesome full circle of redemption story. That's amazing. What have you learned about people? Have you changed your mind about the human condition, about the human beings you've interacted with? I mean, you've met some wonderful people, but you've also met people who weren't. yeah to be honest with you i uh you know when you say sometimes people aren't i i think if someone isn't so wonderful in the way they treat you it's mostly related to how they were raised or someone did something to them or some crazy things going on in their life and that's why they're acting that way so pretty easy honestly to have compassion when you run into someone that's just being extremely rude to you because you know a lot's going on in their life that's the same with kind of everybody and so one thing I've learned is that people are amazing they just need love and I love man one of my most favorite videos was right when I kind of got started I actually went to Starbucks and I asked people to buy me a Starbucks drink people said no no no finally there was this really wealthy guy sitting outside just like Newport Beach and I asked him to buy me a coffee he goes sure and he was pretty reluctant but he goes all right here you go a couple bucks or whatever so I go back I said man here's a hundred dollar gift card I was just seeing first person help me and it was so cool seeing the look on his face he was so shook because being a guy you know that's doing very well people don't usually offer to buy you things are offered to help you they're always asking and wanting stuff from you and so one of my favorite things to do not necessarily always on videos but bless people whether they're they're low income middle income or super wealthy because I tell people this I was just speaking at a conference And I said, you could go give some homeless guy on the street a hundred bucks.

8:26That could be great. But sometimes that money could be used for something bad. Or sometimes you could be in a coffee line by the guy behind you. That's a billionaire,$5 cup of coffee. And it might look like the dumbest thing in the world. But maybe that$5 cup of coffee is the one thing that will unlock compassion in his heart. And he's never had someone give him something without asking for something. And now he's going to go out on his own and donate$100 ,000 a month to helping people out. But you don't give the money to the people who fail the virtue test. You talk about having empathy for them and they've had a hard day and it's not their fault and I can have compassion, but you don't give them the money.

9:00Exactly. I mean, you kind of got to choose who you're going to focus on and who you're going to bless, obviously. You know, the way I live my life is that way. But as far as the content, the whole point is to encourage people to always be kind and you never know what could happen. and my favorite thing about these people that passed these kindness tests is that guy that gave me that hug for example you think that was the first time that guy did something kind to a stranger no no i guarantee 20 000 other acts no one's ever known no one's ever seen the spotlight was never on him but now one moment it was captured and now he's back with his family so that's really the beauty of it is these people they don't really know what's coming and they've been kind their whole life, you know?

9:42Do you know about the biology of kindness? Because there's biology behind this. No. So there's a chemical in our body that I know you've heard of called oxytocin. Yes. Dopamine is responsible for the feeling we get when we start counting the likes on our videos. It's also responsible for the feeling we get when we win a game. Yes. You know, it's also responsible for the feeling when we find our keys that we lost, like here they are, like that feeling of elation. That's all dopamine. Oxytocin is all of the warm and fuzzies. It's all the unicorns and rainbows. It's the magical feeling you get when somebody gives you a hug.

10:13It's the magical feeling you get when somebody does something kind for you. And the thing that I love about oxytocin is you will get a shot of oxytocin when somebody does something nice for you without any expectation of anything in return. People do nice things with expectation of return. Like somebody does something nice for you and they hold their hand out and now they want something. It actually breaks the feeling. But if they do something nice for you without any expectation of anything in return, oxytocin flows through your body. You feel good. If you do something nice for somebody with no expectation of anything in return, and they're like, oh my God, thank you, you get oxytocin.

10:48So you feel good when you give to the people, they feel good when you give to them. But here's the magic of oxytocin. The more oxytocin you have in your body, the more generous you become. It's actually the human body's way of trying to get us to look after each other, because it's biologically important that a social animal take care of the tribe. Otherwise, you know, we're all going to die. But here's the best part about oxytocin, my favorite thing, which is if you witness an act of kindness and generosity, you get a shot of oxytocin. Wow. Which means not only you becoming more generous from the things you do, and not only do the people who you give to become more generous, but the people who watch your channel, the people who witness your acts of kindness and generosity become more generous and become more kind.

11:38I mean, you've got millions of followers. The more followers you get, the biological ripple effect is producing more generous people. And I think this is significant. I mean, how old are you? 27. So I'm getting up there. You're getting up there. You're an old man now. But I've talked about this before. The young generation today, I think, has more things to struggle about, more about than previous generations didn't have. If I tripped over in the cafeteria when I was in school, everybody laughed at me, made fun of me, and it was done, over. Maybe it would last a day. But now that's going to be recorded and posted online forever.

12:13When kids are mean to each other, they don't just make fun of you in the halls. They spread rumors on TikTok. And this is devastating to young people. It's devastating. I can't imagine having to go to school these days with the way that technology is used to hurt people. In a world where all of the rewards, like how many likes I get and being paid for how many likes I get, all the rewards promote selfishness. I think there's something quite delightful about putting yourself out there to tell your peers the opposite is actually not only more beautiful, but I think it's supportive of mental fitness in a way that a lot of other things aren't.

12:58It actually is a healthy thing to do. Oh, by the way, that's another thing about oxytocin actually boosts your immune system. Oh, baby. Yeah, you're so right. I heard something that apparently now we hear more bad news in one day than people used to hear in their whole lifetime back in the 20s and stuff, you know what I mean? So it's just, it's crazy the amount of news, but there is a lot of great use for it. There's a lot of awesome things. And that's kind of what I thought was when I came up with this idea to do this kindness test. I was walking and I felt like God said, I want you to make videos.

13:29I'm like, okay. I don't want to just make videos though, where I'm walking around going, Hey, it's Jimmy. Here you go. Here's 10 grand. Here's 50 grand here. Like here I am. You know, I was like, that's been done so much before. I was like, what's a way to do it where like the focus isn't on me. And so I was like, man, what if I ask somebody for help? And if they help me, then I reward them for being kind. And the coolest thing about it is I don't know how people recognize me on the street because I'm like never hardly ever in my videos. Like it's a hidden chest cam and it's this view of the person.

14:00And so that's what's so cool is if you read the comments, 90 some percent of them are about so awesome. Jose helped you or, you know, Chelsea helped you, whatever, because it's the focus on them. And that's what makes it so fun and awesome. Where does the money that you give away come from? It comes from a number of things. So it comes from a donation. So I raise money. Usually every day donations will come in and if we don't get enough money through donations, then I will use just my personal money or whatever. But yeah, we usually try to raise a certain amount of money and then give that amount of money away.

14:33And you make your money from whatever advertising is on the various social media? Yeah, I do brand deals and then I have some online businesses also and really just use those things to kind of fund my bigger dreams and visions. And I want to see people's lives changed. Then I want to start going and speaking in high school, seeing students' lives change schools. I want to find ways to get rid of bullying out of schools. Then I want to change cities and just keep growing that, you know, but really just find where death, destruction, decay is, and just reverse that, like bring heaven to earth. Literally the school I went to, there was this award you could win.

15:07It was called the Emerald Johnson award. So to win this award, you basically have to be the most unselfish, the most like awesome, kind, best leader of a person. You know, it's one of those awards like you can't win by stepping on toes because it's voted by the leaders and by people. And so I was thinking it'd be so cool to do something in schools where it was this grant and maybe it was like 50 ,000 or 100 ,000 dollars for seniors. And the way you win the award is just by whoever's helping out the most people in the school, you know, so like meeting up with kids that are bullied or doing this or just super respectful for their teachers.

15:41is just an all around awesome person and have different levels too, like almost a most improved too. So that way, like some kid who was a bully and has straight D's, he could still win the thing. You know, like, I don't know, man, all I know is if I was in school and there was like a$50 ,000 grant for college or whatever, a lot of kids would have been like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. You know, let me put on my cynical hat for just a moment. So it's all about money, right? Which is getting money, giving money, right? And that has value, don't get me wrong. But true service is not about giving away money.

16:16True service is giving away non-redeemable commodities like time and energy. The analogy I'll give you is, let's say you're moving and a friend of yours says, oh my God, you're moving. I'll give you$5 ,000 towards the moving van. So generous, so nice. And another one says, you know what? I'll come over to your house. I'll help you pack up boxes. I'll help you fill up the moving van. And then when you get to the new house, I'll help you unpack the boxes. A month later, both friends call and say, I need a favor on the exact same day. I guarantee you, you feel a warmer connection to the friend who gave the non-redeemable commodity of time and energy than the friend who gave you money.

16:51It's fine and good to promote charity and to promote the giving of money. But what about simply giving service, you know, volunteerism, which is even more powerful? Yes. I'm curious about the stories you've had from the people who follow your channel, who started to learn the joy of service themselves. One of the most powerful things somebody ever told me was my friend. It was before I started all this, probably seven years ago. He said, Jimmy, you got to be Santa Claus in private before you're Santa Claus in public. And I just took that so literal into heart. I literally, a few months later, I moved to Texas.

17:30I bought a Santa suit and I would go around Austin, Texas, the middle of August, whatever, at night in the Santa suit, hanging out with homeless people, kicking it with them, getting them burgers, taking them shopping. And it was just a blast. But it was so true that like what you do in private is so beautiful. And like you said, that Oxycholm thing to where people don't even know what you did, but you know what you did. And that alone is so powerful. I want to give your parents some credit here. I mean, I know you give all the credit to Billy Graham, but tell me a happy childhood memory. What's something that stands out from your childhood?

17:59Something specific that I can relive with you? Yeah, my parents usually for every year for Christmas, they'd give us$200,$100 to keep and$100 to give away and bless someone else. From a really young age, you just learn to be comfortable with people, interact with people, kind of live outside of yourself. And it just becomes a natural thing as you get older. And it was just great, man. My dad owned a small family restaurant up there. And so ever since I was six, seven years old, I was washing dishes. Then I was a cook. Then I was a hostess. And so just learning to interact with people and having to work as a young kid is just super important for when you get older.

18:36My dad's just incredible. I've like never seen him have a bad day ever. It sounds like I'm joking, but he's the most optimistic, positive person ever. Like his restaurant burned to the ground and he will just be happy and like, it's going to work out. Don't worry about it. You know, so he's been a real inspiration. But definitely the way you raise your kids is so powerful. I love the Christmas gift of$200 and you have to give$100 away. Yeah. Where does your dad find his optimism? He's just kind of like common sense on steroids. He just so thinks that if he just does things the right ways and doesn't cut corners and has a good heart posture, he doesn't see how it could ever possibly go wrong in the long run.

19:15You know, like something short might happen or might be an issue. Sure, sure. But he knows that, man, I can't control this. I can't control my competitors. I can't control this. All I know is what I can wake up and do every day. And it's truly amazing. We would go on vacation and the forecast would say all rain. But if we brought him with, it would turn into all sun. He's the weirdest thing on the planet. He also doesn't feel like temperature. Like it could be 120 degrees and he'll be like, yeah, it feels great. And it'd be like 50 below Minnesota. He goes, yeah, it feels great. Like, I don't know, man.

19:46He's just something else. I love the infinite mindset of it all. the ability to experience the ups and downs of life as just points on a journey. They're not the end. And I think so often when something bad happens to us, we react as if it's as literally as if it's the last thing that's going to happen to us, as if it's the end. You know, and over time, I think we can all appreciate that we kept going or we learned a lesson, but the ability to contextualize bad things and be humble with good things because they are only points on a longer journey and that journey is good, it requires tremendous amounts of practice.

20:20It's really hard. Yeah. And I have a lot of respect for your dad being able to do it in the moment. I think, you know, I struggle to do it in the moment. I think over the course of time we can do it, but in the moment when all the emotions are flowing, when something bad happens and you can't get a break when you just need a break, the ability to put that into context of a broader life and an intimate mindset. Very impressive. I think really it comes back to just thankfulness and remembrance and write down some of these things like 15 things that drove you crazy that you thought were the end of the world.

20:51And then how almost everyone turned out to be not the end of the world. You know, when I look back at my life, just all the times that I felt like that, I can look back and not one of them like doesn't really make sense to me. They all kind of make sense. They all kind of got me to where I am today. And they're all part of the journey. And And so now it is much easier when something happens. I just go, okay, it's just maybe a door closed. Something's going to happen. And my favorite verse is that God turns all things to good for those that love him. And so anytime something's not the good, the way I view it is it's just not the end.

21:22Great things are awesome because they're fun and amazing. And difficult things also are amazing because, man, they just light your character up. They shape you. They mold you. The balance of both is so healthy in your life, you know? It's worth underlining that. It's not about whether it's good or bad. It's not the end. Yeah. Do you have a vision for the future? I mean, you're sort of doing your thing. Do you just live in the moment and sort of it'll go in whatever direction? Or do you have a vision of the life you want to live or the place you want to be in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years? Yeah, I definitely do.

21:50I'm starting to work on some bigger things now. Like I'm working on a book, which I think will be super awesome. Just being able to connect with somebody, sitting down, reading, going to stories more detail. I think that can have an amazing impact. I'm going to start speaking more. I just spoke at a conference a couple of days ago. Got another one next month. So that'll be fun to start speaking. I want to start speaking in high schools and then we're working on a TV show. So that will be cool probably in the next year or so. We're also creating a kindness challenge game that'll be out in a couple, like a month and a half, two months, where basically I love what you said about the oxytocin and stuff.

22:26That encourages me to be like, man, people can watch videos and actually get inspired to do acts of kindness. but the original idea for if I get 10 million people that watch something and cry and then turn off their phone and go back to life like what really impact is that like sure that's cool that's powerful but I want 10 million people to actually go out and do something and so we kind of created this game where you scratch it off and it'll give you a kindness challenge to go do with your friends or family or whatever and I just can't wait for that because let's say you know 100 people do it.

22:57Well, it'll cause 200 interactions for them and for the person they help. And so working on stuff like that. And then I really just want to keep impacting as long as my heart's alive and beaten. That's a beautiful thing. I'm glad you are no longer lying in the middle of freeways. And I'm glad that you're no longer going into drug dealers and pretending to be a cop. I'm very glad that you're out there showing us people out there who, even if the chips are down for them, even if they're having a bad day, they still are able to dig down a deep inside themselves and find the energy to be kind to those around them.

23:30Because those stories, I think, inspire us to be the same, that no matter how down we are, we can still be kind to someone and imagine what the world would look like if everybody felt that way. 100%. Yeah, it's more blessed to give than receive. And a lot of people have a hard time receiving. And that's what I tell people. I just bought this guy dinner the other night. He's like, oh, man, I hate receiving. And I hate when people buy him stuff. I said, man, listen to me. Let me the most humbling thing to actually receive. And it's actually false humility to deny a gift from somebody else. And it's so true.

24:02And you can tell them that, then they actually can open their heart more to receiving. Jimmy, what a pleasure to meet you. I hope you continue doing what you're doing and being an example of what goodness looks like in a world that likes to take. I wish you nothing but good fortune. And I hope that you give that fortune away. You can open up my mind more and And just really, man, you've just drilled so much the whole concept of spending time and how that's such a powerful way to be kind. So I'm going to try to illustrate that more through content. And for people listening, I'm just so happy you shared that.