Three Good Things

At the end of each day, after dinner and before going to sleep, write down three things that went well during the day. Do this every night for a week. The three things you list can be relatively small in importance (“my colleague brought donuts to work today”) or relatively large in importance (“my boss got a promotion”). After each positive event on your list, answer in your own words the question “Why did this good thing happen?” For example, you might speculate that your colleague brought donuts “because she can be really thoughtful” or “because I remembered to call her and remind her to bring them.” When asked why your boss got a promotion you might explain, “He was next in line for one,” or “His hard work and excellence was finally recognized.”

So, for each day:

1. Three things that went well during the day
2. Your explanation for why they happened

After you have done this for a few days, think about how this exercise might be affecting your own behavior. Are you doing anything different as a result? What and why? Are you feeling different as a result? How and why?

Adapted from Peterson (2006) A Primer in Positive Psychology