What have I been doing well?

Think for a moment about how much of your day you spend reviewing what’s gone “wrong.”

As we move through a workday, it’s easy for our attention to be drawn to what needs to be fixed, what we could have done better, or where we’ve fallen a little short.

When we look at our day this way, we miss important opportunities to acknowledge and celebrate the things we’ve been doing well or that turned out the way we hoped.

Having the presence of mind to identify and change something that needs improvement is certainly a valuable skill.

But it’s equally if not more important to be the kind of person who can recognize and celebrate things that don’t need to be changed, that don’t need to be improved, and that are working the way that they should be.

We have to spend time recognizing the previous challenges we’ve overcome that now contribute to the clarity, confidence and knowledge we have today.

What’s the point of trying to improve yourself and your workday if you’re not taking the time to acknowledge how much you’ve progressed?

That’s one of the most valuable parts of our day-to-day work: the ability to sit in pockets of time and express gratitude for what we’ve accomplished and who we are right now.

Try this:

When you catch yourself identifying something that needs to be “fixed” today, take a moment to recall and just sit with something you’ve accomplished instead.

Remember that we don’t need to wait for the “big” accomplishments to do this.

It’s the daily, moment to moment achievements that, in the end and in the aggregate, are the most important and meaningful.

Go have a great workday.