4 of 8 Operation Beautiful

Operation Beautiful: Caitlin Boyle was writing environmental compliance documents for a land developer. But writing legal docs and analyzing the development's environmental impact from the confines of her home office was too technical for her taste -- and too solitary. The 25-year-old yearned to do something more creative and self-directed, and wanted to connect with people on a more personal level.
Boyle was taking night classes, hoping for a career change, and on one "really bad day" felt completely overwhelmed by work and school. Boyle realized that her own self-image was holding her back: "I thought I wasn't smart enough to go to work and take night classes at the same time. I'm going to fail my chemistry final. I'm bad at math and can't do this. I was suffering from negative self-talk," she admits.
The act: So what's a woman to do? Brighten up someone else's day. She scribbled "You Are Beautiful" on a piece of paper, posted the note in the ladies' room at Valencia Community College in Orlando, Florida, took a photo, and blogged about the moment. She wrote, "If this little blog only does one productive thing, I hope it helps readers realize how truly toxic negative self-talk is -- it hurts you emotionally, spiritually, and physically."
In three days, 75 notes with photos of people posting their own messages flooded her inbox. On the fourth day, Boyle launched her site, Operation Beautiful.
The ripple: The viral message has inspired tens of thousands of anonymous, positive notes, posted in public spots: bathroom mirrors, libraries, hospitals, and gyms. Boyle blogs six days a week, sharing stories with heartfelt messages of hope. Her favourite is from a gym: "Scales measure weight, not worth." Others include "This is not a trick mirror, you look this awesome" and "Take a diet from your negative thoughts, fill yourself with positive ones."
Boyle's mission has touched girls on every continent except Antarctica, sparking impassioned online discussions on the notions of beauty. A girl headed to the roof of a parking garage spotted a note: "If there's no you, someone else will be as alone as you feel now. Turn around. Operationbeautiful.com"
She turned around and called a friend to pick her up. The friend wrote this email to Boyle: "Thank you so much for starting this project. She’ll never admit it, but she owes her life to this project."
Boyle's positive message continues to multiply: "The Today Show," "The Early Show," the Oprah Winfrey Network, and many other mediums are spreading the compassion. As for her career, Boyle is literally writing the next chapter of her professional life. She continues to blog for a living and has been commissioned to write a book, appropriately titled "Operation Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-It Note at a Time." "It created a circle of random acts of kindness, proving you're never alone, you can change a life and you can do something nice for strangers," says Boyle.