I have a retarded mind: I very often go through the best ideas in books and posts without noticing them right away. They usually become some sort of “seed” in my head and take 3, 4 days to fully grow, without me having the least intention to do anything about them. And then one day, as a flower that opens after a delicate nurture, I say: “wow”, and do something about it.
Writing the successes of the day was one of those great ideas. Simple, non-coded, very little time-consuming, it pays off in a way that is almost scary.
The tip is not new and has been around for some time. My personal encounter happened in a blog for musicians (I’d like to put the link here to show my recognition, but the post is lost in the information flow, due to the slow maturation process described above).
I started writing 5 successes at the end of the day, and some days it took me quite long to find them. In those initial days I also faced a series of very revealing repressions and mental obstacles. The greatest hits:
- “Hey, Nacho, but you’re cheating, this is only a minor detail”. (Answer: no it is not, it is neither minor nor major, it is positive, that’s what it is, so please stop being so judgmental.)
- “Gee, but you’re hiding a part of the facts in order to make the experience look better” (Answer: no, I’m not. I’m focusing on the positive aspects of the thing, that’s the whole point of the exercise.)
I started writing those successes as a section of my journal (the interactions and contrasts between the “plain” narration of the day and the reported successes were also very revealing). Now I have separated both: I have a tiny notebook on my bedside table, so writing the successes of the day is usually the last activity before turning off the light. It is not a bad way to close the day, any day, because it generates a certain recency effect that then spreads that optimism all over your next day and your activities.
There comes a wonderful moment when you start to do it spontaneously along the day: you generate “batches” of positive facts at will and very easily, the same way as you can decide to take a deep breath. There exists, without any doubt, a neural training factor. You can train your set of “optimistic circuits”, in the same way as you can train a certain group of muscles.
Nowadays, 5 is only my minimum rate, which I very easily surpass, and there are many moments, along the day, when I am tempted to stop what I’m doing to write down what a success it is turning to be. So I strongly recommend it. In a very short time, you’ll wake up and, after having a shower, you might be saying to yourself (to your surprise): “I already had my shower! What a success!”
P.S. It wouldn’t feel fair if I didn’t mention here Oprah’s “gratitude journal”, which I knew short after sketching this post. Blessed be any suggestion to reinforce good habits; as for myself, I prefer the successes approach because it is more proactive and, by connecting person and actions, it reinforces self-esteem. But your case might very well be different. As I explained in a different post, I have a natural gift for admiration, so I don’t need to be reminded how lucky I am, or how many cool things happen around me (maybe it is like being talented for music: it just happens). But perhaps for other people, with a bullet-proof self-esteem, or those who are excessively action-oriented, it works better to have a reminder of the need to stop from time to time and smell the flowers of existence.
What do you like better? Do you know other systems? Have you already adopted a positive mindset? What’s your advice?
Related posts:
The magic of journaling
More about being absolutely positive
GTD for writers
Advanced brain-fu
Why we need assholes