If this applies to you when you fall short of reaching a writing or other goal, please don’t let what you didn’t achieve overshadow what you DID achieve.
For some reason, it’s
natural for most people to focus on the negative rather than
the positive. I realized
this some time ago when I’d run a workshop or give a talk
sometimes for 50 or more
people and ask them to fill in an evaluation sheet. If I got 49 compliments and one
negative response, which one do you think stuck in my mind?
That’s right, the
negative one—which often wasn’t even about me, it was somebody who
thought
the room was too hot or
too cold, or the chair was too soft or too hard, or the lunch hour was
too long or too short.
Fortunately, eventually I recognized how ridiculous this was.
Of course if there is something to be learned from the negative, that's valuable. But otherwise it's a waste of time and energy to focus on the bad news, especially if it makes you forget the good stuff.
If, like me, you have a tendency to spend more time and energy on what didn't work, this is a reminder to give yourself some credit for what did work.
