Gianna's Gem: Steal This From My Son's Summer Camp

Hi there,

This one comes straight from my son's summer camp, (huge shout out to Cole and Kate Kelly at Camp Weequahic) and I mean that literally.

Last week, a book arrived in the mail addressed to my son. It was from Camp Weequahic, who had the brilliant idea to mail this self-published gem directly to campers so the magic of camp could come home with them. The book? Three Good Things, a simple practice built around a daily gratitude ritual called 3 Happies and an Appreciation.

I'll be honest: when I first read about it, I thought, cute idea for kids. But the more I sat with it…and the more I tried it at our own dinner table replacing our basic gratitude practice…the more I realized this wasn't just a camp tradition. It's one of the simplest, most human yet extremely powerful team-building and culture-setting tools I've encountered in 23+ years of creating high-performing teams and unforgettable experiences.

So this week, I'm borrowing this gem from Camp Weequahic and bringing it to you to scale this pearl of wisdom.

Gianna's Gem: The best rituals aren't complicated. They're consistent, specific, and designed to make people feel seen, heard, grateful and appreciated.

What Is "3 Happies and an Appreciation"?

It's a daily gratitude practice you can do in five minutes…be it at the dinner table, the start of a team meeting, on a walk, or even in a quick Slack channel.

Here's how it works:

(3) Happies (Three Good Things or if you want a more corporate tone, Three Wins):

Each person shares three positive moments from their day, no matter how small. The key is specificity. Don't just say "I had a good meeting." Say "I had a great call with Maria where we finally cracked the problem we'd been stuck on for two weeks, and I left feeling energized and confident again." Note what happened, why it happened, and how it made you feel. Variety is encouraged: a productive work win, a kind interaction, a quiet personal moment…all count.

(1) Appreciation:

Each person identifies one person to appreciate and expresses it out loud. Make it specific. Not "Thanks, team." But "I want to appreciate Jake for stepping in at 4 PM when the website had an issue…he handled it calmly and saved the day." Name the person. Name the action. Name why it mattered.

That's it. Five minutes. Every day.

Why It Works: The Science Behind the Practice

This isn't just feel-good fluff, this is neuroscience.

Our brains are wired with what's called a negativity bias. We're evolutionarily designed to notice, remember, and ruminate on problems and threats far more than on positive experiences. It kept our ancestors alive. But in modern life, it means we often end the day replaying what went wrong rather than what went right.

3 Happies and an Appreciation rewires that default setting.

When we actively search for and articulate positive moments, we train our brains to scan for them throughout the day. Over time, you start noticing the good as it's happening, not just in retrospect. Research from positive psychology (Martin Seligman's work on "Three Good Things" is foundational here) shows that this practice consistently reduces anxiety and depression, boosts overall wellbeing, and improves sleep quality after just one week of consistent practice.

It’s why at the end of each day, no matter how tired I am, I journal before bed starting with the prompt “what went well today”. Often, I’m fixated on the one thing I wish I’d done better, but as I start to find all the things that went well, I often fill up a full page and realize all the little wins that far surpass any trouble spots. As a bonus, it’s greatly improved my sleep since I don’t fixate on the one thing that didn’t go wrong and get everything out on paper before my head hits the pillow.

And the appreciation piece? It activates the social bonding systems in our brains, for both the giver and the receiver. When someone feels genuinely seen and appreciated, trust deepens. Relationships strengthen. People want to show up for each other. 

It’s why I make a practice of texting or emailing a person as soon as I get a feeling of appreciation for them during the day. Most people keep this to themselves, but I find that when I take one minute to share my appreciation, even with just a text message, it makes their day and also amplifies my own feelings of gratitude.

Gianna's Gem: When you end the day looking for what's good and who to thank, you start the next day already ahead.

How I Use It at Home

The first time I tried this at dinner with my family, I'll be transparent: there was resistance.

My son looked at me like I'd suggested we go around the table reciting poetry. But I held the space, modeled it first, and made mine specific and real. By the time we got to the appreciation, something shifted. He sat up straighter. He thought harder. He named his friend and told us exactly why that friend made his day better.

We've been doing it (mostly) ever since.

What I've noticed:

• Dinner conversation has become richer and more substantive.

• My son has started noticing and naming good things during the day ("Mom, this is going to be one of my happies tonight").

• The appreciation piece has made him more thoughtful about the people in his life and more likely to actually express thanks

• It takes the edge off hard days. Even when everything went sideways, finding three good things grounds you back in what's real and true.

• And here’s the kicker - much less complaining! It sure makes everything feel a lot easier with the negative muted.

This practice arrived in our house in a book mailed by a summer camp director. And it's become a ritual I genuinely look forward to.

How to Apply It to Your Team (Business Leader Version)

Here's what I want every event planner, team leader, and manager reading this to hear: this practice is one of the highest-leverage culture tools you're probably not using.

Think about how most team meetings begin. A status update. A slide deck. An agenda. Valuable, yes… But cold. People arrive distracted, carrying the weight of everything that happened before they walked through the door (or logged onto Zoom). We jump straight into problems and deliverables, never acknowledging the humans in the room.

3 Happies and an Appreciation changes that in five minutes.

Here's how I'd implement it on a team:

At the start of weekly all-hands or team meetings: Go around and have each person share one wine (not three to keep it moving in larger groups) and the team collectively nominates one group appreciation for someone who went above and beyond that week (MVP) - bonus points if they get an amazon gift card, or something else as a treat for their exceptional effort.

In smaller pod, offsites or squad meetings: Do the full version: three wins and a personal appreciation. This is where the real connection happens.

In one-on-ones: Ask your direct reports to share their three wins for the week first. You'll learn more about what energizes them, what they're proud of, and what relationships matter to them than any performance review will ever reveal.

In a team Slack or group chat: Create a weekly thread. Post your three wins every Friday. Watch what happens to team culture over 60 days.

The rules are the same whether you're at the dinner table or in a conference room: be specific, name the why, and make the appreciation land.

Gianna's Gem: Gratitude isn't soft. It's one of the most strategic things you can do for team retention, psychological safety, and performance.

What This Teaches Us About Event Design

I can't write a Gem without connecting it to what we do for a living in the events world, so here it is.

The reason 3 Happies and an Appreciation works so well is the same reason the best events work: it creates intentional space for people to feel seen, connected, and valued.

Most events end with "safe travels." Most meetings end with "any other business?" And most workdays end without anyone ever naming what went right or who made a difference.

When I plan events, I think about how to close them in a way that creates integration instead of disconnection. A moment of collective reflection. A shared appreciation. A prompt that helps people leave feeling like the time mattered.

This practice does that in miniature form…every single day.

What if your events ended with a version of this? What if your closing keynote invited the room to share one positive learning or connection or “aha” moment from the conference and one appreciation for someone they met? What if your team offsite ended not with logistics but with five minutes of people saying thank you to each other?

I promise you: that's what people would remember.

I once implemented a version of this practice at a SoftBank Vision Fund Women’s Event in San Francisco. At the closing keynote, women stood up and shared one learning from the breakout they attended in the afternoon and then shared one interesting fact about someone they met. It was an amazing way to scale the content and networking so that people learned a bit more about sessions they didn’t attend and people they hadn’t met yet.

Your Action Plan

Try it tonight. Seriously, waiting is just procrastinating on a future goal (to quote James Clear).

At dinner, or before bed, or via text with someone you love or work with. Share three specific things from your day that were good, and one genuine appreciation for someone who showed up for you.

Do it for a week. Notice what changes.

Then bring it to your team. Start small: one meeting, one appreciation callout, one thread. Build the habit.

Because here's the truth: your people, at home and at work, crave being seen, heard, appreciated. They want to know their presence and effort matters. This practice creates the conditions for that acknowledgment to happen, every single day, without requiring a major initiative or a big budget.

It's just five minutes. I promise you, it will spare you countless headaches in the future by taking the time to be intentional about this.

Compounded over weeks and months it can make the difference between a family that feels like a team and a team that feels like a family.

Thank you, Cole, and thank you Camp Weequahic. In your generous gift to my son, you inadvertently reminded this event planner of one of the most important things we can design for, in events and in life: the moment when someone feels truly, genuinely, specifically appreciated.

That's the whole game.

You've got this.

XX, Gianna

Gianna Gaudini is an event strategist, advisor, and author of the Amazon bestselling book "The Art of Event Planning." She's held leadership roles at Google, AWS, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Airtable, creating unforgettable experiences that drive business results. For more insights on creating exceptional events, visit GiannaGaudini.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Want to work with Gianna or take her Event Planning Masterclass? Visit giannagaudini.com/learn-from-me