Photo by Tim Gouw

What’s a negativity audit?

It’s a simple self-evaluation that when held on a regular basis can highlight negative influences in your life.

How does the audit work?

It’s simple. Just ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. What 3 people leave me feeling the most negative after I spend time with them?
2. What 3 songs leave me feeling the most negative after I listen to them?
3. What three things that I’ve watched or read recently leave me feeling the most negative?

Try and answer each of these questions completely and honestly every time. The most is intentionally bolded in each of these. You may not hang around net-negative people at all, but who are “the most” negative 3 people you hang around.

I’ve found it handy to record my answers in the same place every time (either in a journal or in dropbox paper or Google Docs). That way I can look for patterns.

What are the benefits?

I’ve been able to identify and eliminate quite a few things from my life which I believe have had an outsized impact on the quality of my everyday life. One simple example was when I realized how much of a negative influence consuming the news has on me. 3 years ago I stopped watching the news altogether and I can attest to the fact that my life is better for it!

How do I know if something is negative or not?

Common negative behavior includes:

• abuse (verbal, physical, emotional)
• gossip
• fault finding
• insults
• discrimination
• lying
• sabotage
• theft

In general, negative interactions can leave you feeling:

• fearful
• guilty
• sad
• superior
• shameful
• depressed
• inadequate
• vulnerable
• jealous
• fat/ugly

How Often is “Regular”?

That is up to you. I generally do this once a quarter.