The One Complaint A Day Rule

#WellnessWednesday (Part 1 of 2) – The “One Complaint a Day” Rule

Mr. Rob

Hey everyone! Mr. Rob here with a little #WellnessWednesday mantra that I use everyday to help keep my spirits up!

It’s the simple yet powerful idea of only one complaint a day. It started as a vacation rule that my Mom made up back when we were kids and these days, it’s become an everyday rule in our home.

At first it might seem simple or silly (especially to a trio of young boys in my Moms case anyway), yet it provides a very concise and memorable way to remind you to be grateful and think positively. When we were kids on vacation, it helped remind us to focus on relaxing, being positive and not complaining and it became vacation law in our family.

As I got older, the implications of what one complaint a day means became clearer.

For one, it’s easy to fall into the rather destructive habit of creating conversation by complaining. We do it almost reflexively; bad weather, bad food, bad news, too expensive, too slow, whatever.

A lot of people are uncomfortable sitting in silence, even with friends or with family, and it often feels like these situations become a breeding ground for complaining or gossiping.

And once you get more than one person complaining, you might end up group-thinking yourself into a pit of misery!

Trying to keep to one complaint a day makes you a lot more conscious of these reflexive conversation fillers. And eventually, this silly idea will start to influence you whole way of thinking to be more positive!

One complaint a day also forces you to choose your complaining wisely. I find that this helps me focus on fixing the things that are actually important. It makes you choose which singular complaint, out of all hundreds of possible complaints or problems, is the one you want to be actually speak up about.

When you complain about something, you acknowledge it. Whether you believe in self-actualization or manifestation or not, the simple fact of having to be associated with voicing said complaint, is often reason enough to check yourself. Do you really want to be the person everyone remembers as a complainer? Is there nothing else positive, interesting or exciting left to talk about?

Obviously that’s easier said than done, and some people legitimately have more to complain about than others. I’m not trying to stop you from talking about vital, important or legitimate problems… it’s more about eliminating the unnecessary complaining and the reflex of making complaint based conversation.

Having a trouble sticking to one complaint? Grab a wrist band of any kind and simply switch it from wrist to wrist every time you file a complaint. You’ll quickly start to check yourself and if you live with anyone else, get them in on the routine and help keep each other accountable. My wife and I will often ask each other, “Was that a complaint?” And usually, they are!

It’s also super easy for kids to remember and stick to and great for the classroom. You can try doing it just on vacation or you can try it on weekends only or even all week long if you’re up for even more positivity!

And as an added bonus, you can kind of cheat the system but filing the same complaint multiple times a day. This will almost motivate you even more to take care of the issue. For example, when I don’t stay in decent shape, my neck starts to hurt from an old injury. So when I end up complaining about my neck a lot in a given day or two, it’s a clear sign that I need to get back in shape.

And because one complaint a day locks you into that one complaint for that one day, you can’t move on to some other problem until your current one is solved!