So how often have you been told you’re wonderful? At work? By your family? By your partner? You may be lucky and have praise heaped upon you every second of every day, however for most people, such positive feedback is sadly not as common as we would perhaps like.

We always get to hear about the bad stuff almost at the moment it happens, don’t we? For example, if something goes wrong at work, someone will be bearing down on you to have a go before you know it, but we very rarely get any kind of feedback when things go well which can actually be quite often.

Some could argue that the English sensibility is generally not very good at giving praise, preferring the old-fashioned stiff upper lip concept rather than being seen to be some kind of Californian new-age hippy who might hug you to death, however although this is changing with each generation, it does still exist. And yet, it is not always other people who don’t praise us enough. We also do it to ourselves.

How often have you had a day where if you look back on it at the end of the day, it’s been a bit crap? You see the mistakes you may have made or look back with regret for having not said or done something better at the time and yet you seldom consider the good things that have happened, the successes that you have achieved or
been a part of.

For all the above reasons, I’m a great believer in celebrating when things go well. We spend enough time contemplating and getting depressed by the negative aspects of our lives, so how much better do you think we could feel if we spent an equal (or more) amount of time focusing on the positive things we have achieved?

A few years ago, Robbie Williams released an album called ‘Sing When You’re Winning’. Not a big fan of the album I admit, but I am a huge fan of the sentiment. So, go on, what have you done today that’s positive? Start today. Then do it every day. Go out and (metaphorically if you prefer), sing out loud…