Your First Challenge…

The Background

Our aim is to help you make a better today, and to create positive change in your life.

But I’d be willing to bet that your life is already better than you think it is.

Before you protest please hear me out – we are naturally wired with a negative bias. We remember the bad things much more than we remember the good things, and tend to let bad things have a much greater effect on our emotions than good things.

And this isn’t something I just made up – there are loads of scientific studies that show this is true for most people.

Think about this example – someone asks how your day was, and you say ‘rubbish’ because you got stuck in a traffic jam on the way home that made you an hour late. But what was the day like before that? It was probably an ok sort of day, maybe even a great day. But all you remember is the traffic jam, in reality just a small part of the day.

But it’s that negative bias at work.

However bad you think you’re doing right now, even if nothing changes you will start to feel better if you start to pay more attention to the positive things that happen.

Studies show this negative bias is something that we start to show as early as 3 months old, so we’re not going to change it overnight. But we can work to try and counteract it.

And like most things, once you know about it, you can start to do something about it.

That’s what this first challenge is all about.

The Challenge

This challenge is a little different to all the rest, as I want you to keep this one going for as long as possible – you’ll see why.

You’re going to keep a diary.

Not a ‘I love Peter Andre / Sheila stole my pens today’ type of diary that you might have had as a kid.

This will be a gratitude diary.

Every day, you’re going to write about something you’re grateful for, or something great that happened that day. It can be something big, like getting a promotion. But most of the time it will probably be something small – like a warm fluffy towel when you get out of the shower, or a phone call with a good friend you haven’t spoken to in a while. It could be a stranger letting you go ahead of them in the supermarket queue, or seeing a beautiful sunset on your way home.

Some days it will be easy to find something, and other days it will be a real struggle. But it’s on those dark days that it’s even more important to find some good and some positivity, because I promise you it will be there, you might just have to look very hard.

As we get into the other challenge you may want to use it write more – what went well today, what you want to do more of tomorrow. What you need to stop doing, or what you know needs to change.

But as a minimum I want you to write down just 1 thing that you are grateful for each day.

And I want you to keep this up for the whole time we are together on this journey – it’s one of the most important things you can do.

Not only does it help to overcome the negativity bias, it will also show you how far you’ve come when you look back in 6 weeks or 6 months (because that negativity bias will be trying to convince you that nothing’s changed – trying to drag you back to where you were).

So here’s your step-by-step guide to get this show on the road!

Step-by-Step

1.      Decide where you’re going to keep your diary

First think about if you want go digital or on paper. (My suggestion would be on paper – there’s lots of science around the benefit of putting pen to paper, but if digital is more your thing then go for it!)

If you’re going digital you can use a notes app to record your thoughts every day, or make notes in your calendar.

If you’re going for paper then something like a page-a-day diary can be a good idea, but a simple notebook will do the job. Write it on the backs of envelopes if that’s all you’ve got – it really doesn’t matter as long as you know where you’re writing it and you can keep it consistent.

2. Decide when you’re going to write

Most obvious options are at the end of the day (so writing about what you’re grateful for today) or at the start of the day (writing about something good that happened yesterday).

Again, it doesn’t matter which you choose, as long as you have the space to do it properly and can do it consistently. If that’s 10.30am then go for it!

3. Start straight away

Once you’ve decided where you’re writing and when, write your first entry – today if possible. The sooner you start, the better!

Then repeat, every day!

And that’s all there is to it!

Watch out for your first proper challenge on Sunday – see you then!