3 Good Things

The goal is to look for and consider the good things that are happening.

There are several ways to approach Three Good Things (3GTs). However you decide to do this, it seems important to repeat this practice until 3GTs becomes a daily habit.

You could do one or some of the following:

• Once a day, think of 3 things that are going well.

• Once a day, think of 3 things that are going well, and your role in this.

• Once a day, think of 3 things that are going well, your role in this, and how you feel as a result.

You may:

• wish to write these down.

• find it best in the morning, or last thing in the evening, etc.

Perhaps you want/need a reminder?

• You could make your own, e.g. by setting a daily alarm on your phone.

• Or you could use a web-based tool via email.

• Or you keep a journal/diary.

Aim to repeat this practice until 3GTs becomes a daily habit.

The goal is to keep looking for and considering the good things that are happening.

Background to 3GTs

The goal of 3GTs is to ensure we notice some of the good things that are going on.

In Emergency Departments, we are trained to look for “bad things”. This is important. We need to notice a deteriorating patient, a potential hazard, and “first do no harm”, etc. Despite all the bad things that do go on every day in our EDs, as well, there are usually many good things in our lives.

“3GT is one of a family of positive interventions used as intentional activities aimed at cultivating positive cognitions and emotions. In other words, 3GT is thought to enhance participants’ ability to notice genuinely positive things around them, and these can be the same things that were already present, but went unnoticed prior to the intervention.” (Sexton et al, 2019)

Is this toxic positivity, or simply mean “looking on the bright side”? Perhaps, but not really. Rather, it is possible to keep being aware of and attendant to important “negative” things, and, when appropriate, look for good things.

Some videos

Originally, research was done whereby just before sleep, participants wrote 3 good things, their role in those, and how they felt as a result. Here is a video from one of the pioneers in this area, Dr Martin Seligman.

Later, researchers from Duke University Center for Healthcare Safety and Quality investigated burnout in healthcare workers. They advised a similar approach for 2 weeks.

Others recommend more or less detail and effort and duration.

• From the North of England.

• And Ireland.

• Some more from Dr Seligman

Some research

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–421. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410

Sexton JB, Adair KC. Forty-five good things: a prospective pilot study of the Three Good Things well-being intervention in the USA for healthcare worker emotional exhaustion, depression, work–life balance and happiness. BMJ Open 2019;9:e022695. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022695 https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/3/e022695

Alan Carr, Laura Finneran, Christine Boyd, Claire Shirey, Ciaran Canning, Owen Stafford, James Lyons, Katie Cullen, Cian Prendergast, Chris Corbett, Chloe Drumm & Tom Burke (2023) The evidence-base for positive psychology interventions: a mega-analysis of meta-analyses, The Journal of Positive Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2023.2168564