Happy Human Habit #3 – Tally Your Wins. Especially the Small Ones.

“What went wrong?”

Is that a familiar question?

A lot of our mental energy goes to tracking what’s wrong and trying to fix it.

Yet from a behavioral training perspective we know that positive reinforcement works better than negative. Complimenting someone else’s good behavior will make that behavior more likely to happen in the future and puts them and you in a better mood.

What if you applied that same idea to yourself? 

This week congratulate yourself on your good behavior, on not losing your temper, on remembering to breathe, on finding time to pack (or eat) your lunch.

It might look like this: 

  • Remembered to brush teeth – check.
  • Didn’t step on the cat while making breakfast – check.
  • Kids hung up jackets when they came home from school (without prompting)- double check!