Write three good things and their causes each evening

Before sleep, write three specific good things that happened and — crucially — why each one happened.

Why it works

The causal-attribution step is what distinguishes this from a simple gratitude list. Attributing positive events to stable, internal, and global causes ("I prepared well," "I attracted a good friend") builds explanatory style — the habitual way of interpreting good events — which is a core component of learned optimism. Repeatedly doing this gradually shifts the default attentional filter from threat-scanning to opportunity-scanning.

How to do it

1. Each evening, write three specific things that went well — not generally ("had a good day") but concretely ("my 3pm call went smoothly").
2. For each, write one sentence answering: "Why did this happen?" — credit your own actions, a relationship you cultivated, or a pattern that reliably produces this.
3. Keep entries in the same notebook or app; the cumulative record builds a counterfactual to negative-event salience.
4. On weeks when nothing notable happens, write three ordinarily good things — "coffee tasted good, finished a task" counts.

Evidence

The original RCT found significantly higher happiness and lower depression at one-, three-, and six-month follow-up for participants who continued the practice. Multiple subsequent replications have confirmed the basic effect. (rct)

Effect sizes are modest (not transformative); effects decay when the practice is discontinued, which is why sustained use rather than a single week is recommended.

Sources

• Seligman et al. (2005), positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions, American Psychologist

Common mistake

Writing the what without the why — a list of three good events with no causal attribution has much weaker effects than the full exercise, because it trains attention without training the interpretation of what is noticed.