Finding Focus: The Negativity Effect Is Real—Here’s How Success Journaling Can Help You Fight Back
We have a natural bias towards the negative. It's in our wiring. Humans spent a long time without the comforts and relative safety that exist in our current state, so it makes sense that we look at the shadows, even the ones that exist only in our perceptions or imaginations, and assume the worst.
Success journaling is a counterpoint to doom scrolling through life. It doesn't encourage you to ignore the perils or challenges in the world. It provides an outlet to balance the good things that happen against the negative by offering a clear framework to record and celebrate your wins, while also showcasing a gallery of your accomplishments.
What is The Negativity Effect?
The negativity effect is a cognitive bias that was documented in 2001 by Paul Rozin and Edward B. Rozyman. The hypothesis of their research is that we give more attention or weight to negative experiences in our lives. These researchers also found that negativity was more contagious in its virality and discovered that just a small amount of negativity could contaminate an experience or group of people in a more significant way than a positive experience of a similar scale.
You know what this feels like. Everyone does. You have a successful week at work, and your boss calls you in on Friday afternoon to offer some helpful feedback, albeit with a slightly critical edge. As you leave the meeting, you are absorbed in the criticism. You bring it home with you, and it impacts your evening. You're a little distracted during dinner and while playing with your kids. Your partner notices. YOU notice. It’s a drag, and all because you ignored the praise that was also shared.
It’s not just in those situations either. The world has undergone significant changes in the two and a half decades since this research was conducted. In our digital lives, virality isn't just encouraged; it's a built-in feature to some of the most popular and attention-grabbing media sources on the planet. It used to be that the local news would "tease" an upcoming blizzard or report on a terrible accident or crime during the prime-time evening TV block, promising the "full story at 11" to keep people watching after their favorite shows were done. Now, we swipe and scroll our way into increasingly damaging clips that our brains are wired to pay attention to, creating a feedback loop that both feeds the algorithm and reinforces our perspective that negativity is the primary experience in life.
Capturing All of Your Wins
Recording your success, or wins, provides multiple benefits. First, you have a running collection of how much you've accomplished. Being able to review that from time to time is impactful in the same way as looking back at a more traditional journal can be.
This process also allows you to change your mindset. The bias towards negativity causes you to focus quickly on what didn't work, on how you failed. The truth is, you aren't screwing up as much as you think you are. It's just that your brain isn't paying attention to where you're succeeding.
Success journaling isn’t just for recording those big moments in life, such as when you ace an audit at work, get a promotion, have a new baby, or get married. Make a note of the little things, too. You're building something with this, and it can't just be the big blocks; you need the small ones, too.
At first, this process may feel like you're boasting. You don't need to be humble when sharing your success, especially when it's an audience of one - yourself. This isn't for publication, it's to help you see a more positive through line from day to day.
Format & Review Process
One of my first principles of journaling is to use the simplest tool for the task at hand. You may find a dedicated tool like Day One or Journal best serves your practice, or it might make more sense to create a simple note on your phone and track your successes that way.
Right now, I'm using Day One. I've created a dedicated Success Journal and am doing a new entry for each success that I want to catalog. Your needs may vary, and I may find that having just one entry is enough, perhaps updating to a new entry at a timed interval, such as weekly or monthly.
If you need a boost when you open your tool of choice or perhaps when you're doing an end-of-day review, try this prompt I'm using:
What are some areas where I was successful today?
The trick here is to be brief and specific. A sentence or two at most with the who, what, where, and why serves your needs.
Understanding Success Through Your Challenges
The more often you record a success, the stronger your habit of taking note of the positive becomes. I'm not a scientist, and I can't confirm that doing this will overcome the negative bias inherent in all of us. Still, it will at least force attention to our wins, and thereby give the positive occurrences in our lives a much-needed boost. Where the feed amplifies what’s wrong, your journal amplifies what’s right. It’s up to you to decide what you choose to give your most precious commodity, your time and attention.