Humans tend to remember more of the negative things than the positive. When we get feedback about our work, we can get 10 positives and one negative feedback, and we’d solely focus on that negative one. When we think about a friend or family member, we may remember the times they treated us poorly more clearly than the times when they treated us well.

The reason we tend to focus more on the negative is because it was mainly used as a survival mechanism. But nowadays, focusing on the negative does more harm than good. This issue is called “negative bias,” and it can slowly decrease our mental health unnecessarily.

To combat my negative bias, I use technique that has helped me remember (or at least collect) all of the wins and positive experiences I’ve encountered in my life.

This technique is called the Jar of Awesome, something I learned from a mentor, Khe Hy (founder of RadReads), which was originally coined by Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Work Week.

The Jar of Awesome is a physical or metaphorical jar that will hold pieces of paper of all your wins - big or small. This exercise helps you keep the good memories to refer back to whenever you feel down.

Going back and viewing these entries motivates me to contribute more. I now spend part of my journaling routine logging new entries into my digital version of my Jar of Awesome.

By the end of the month, quarter, or even at the end of the year, I can look back and visualize how much good happened in my life.

This is one of the three ways I try to focus on the positive things in life. It increases my mental health and gives me a realistic lens of how fortunate I am with all that I have.

If you’re interested in see how I use the Jar of Awesome and the other two techniques that help me become happier, you can check out my video below: