A small errand done for someone can remove a disproportionate amount of difficulty from their day.

Effort is not the same size for everyone. A ten-minute stop that costs you almost nothing can lift something a person has been carrying for a week, especially when illness, work, or the lack of a car has turned an ordinary task into a project. The asymmetry is the whole point: what is trivial from where you stand may be the heaviest item on someone else’s list. Help of this kind rarely looks impressive, which is part of why it goes undone.

Ask one person what they keep failing to get to. Offer the version of it that is easy for you.