You praise your friends, your coworkers, and your spouse whenever they accomplish something praiseworthy, so why not give yourself some praise? You’re not being a braggart or egotistical when you acknowledge that you finished a task or made a breakthrough—you work very hard and accomplish many things that no one but you ever recognizes. If you finally played a complicated piano composition all the way through or found an ingenious way to increase your project’s budget, tell yourself how wonderfully brilliant and accomplished you are. Bask in the glory of the moment! You deserve it.