Rethinking Positive Thinking

Oettingen shares some truly fascinating research about the (negative) impacts of merely fantasizing about a desired outcome.

Get this: Scientists can bring people into a lab, measure their blood pressure, and then have them positively fantasize then take their blood pressure again. In a matter of minutes, their blood pressure will go down significantly.

Now, that might sound like a good thing (and, of course, learning how to relax and oscillate between being on and off is essential to sustained peak performance), BUT if you want to actually achieve the outcome you’re fantasizing about, you want to end your sessions feeling ENERGIZED not mellow.

Oettingen tells us: “More often than not, we are the exact opposite of electrified. It never ceases to impress me that we can measure a decline in energy and motivation almost instantly after a fantasy of wish fulfillment passes through a person’s mind.”

Plus: “By fooling our brains into thinking we’re already successful, we lose motivation and energy to do what it takes to actually become successful.”

In short: The positive fantasies by themselves feel good in the immediate term but are disastrous over the long run if we’re serious about achieving our desired outcomes.

Let’s look at what works!

So, dreaming in and of itself can lead to the precise OPPOSITE results we’re looking for.

But…

If we immediately contrast that ideal outcome with realities that stood in the way then magic happens!

Enter: Mental contrasting.

When we do that, rather than feel lethargic, we feel FIRED UP! (Technically, we feel a “necessity to act” that catalyzes us into doing the very things that will help us achieve our outcomes.)

There’s an important caveat to this though: Our wish needs to be FEASIBLE. We need to think we can actually achieve it.

If we think we can achieve it, our motivation to take action immediately goes through the roof. If we *don’t* think we can achieve it, our motivation actually drops below that of the pure dreamers.

And, as Oettingen tells us many times throughout the book, that’s actually a REALLY good thing because sometimes we need to DISENGAGE from a dream.

It makes no sense to invest valuable energy into something we don’t think we can attain. So, remember: Make sure you think your dreams are challenging but feasible and be honest about when your dreams are just too far out of your current reach to properly fire you up!

As per Oettingen: “Our study suggested that mental contrasting could help people do both things: engage even more forcefully when it made sense to engage, disengage even more forcefully when that made sense. It functioned as a self-regulation tool, helping people allocate their energy more efficiently so they didn’t merely pursue wishes, but wisely pursued them.”

Implementation intentions.

They’re huge and they are a key part of the WOOP strategy we’re getting to.

(Sidenote: The guy who came up with this is Peter M. Gollwitzer—Gabriele’s husband. That’s awesome. Power couple!)

So, implementation intentions.

IF a situation arises, THEN you will do something.

Here’s how Timothy Pychyl described it in his great little book Solving the Procrastination Puzzle (see Notes): “In short, implementation intentions are a powerful tool to move from a goal intention to an action.

As I have outlined in earlier chapters, these implementation intentions take the form of ‘if . .. then’ statements. The ‘if’ part of the statement sets out some stimulus for action. The ‘then’ portion describes the action itself. The issue here really is one of predecision. We are trying to delegate the control over the initiation of our behavior to a specified situation without requiring conscious decision.

IF I say to myself things like ‘I’ll feel more like doing this later’ or ‘‘I don’t feel like doing this now,’ THEN I will just get started on some aspect of the task.”

The key here is that by identifying likely obstacles IN ADVANCE, we make what willpower researchers call a “predecision.” We’ve pre-committed ourselves to an optimal path. By doing this (and getting in the habit of actually doing what we said we would do!), we’re able to conserve precious willpower so we’re not needing to squander energy every time we face the challenge.

Getting good at this is a REALLY good idea.

And now, it’s time to get our super practical WOOP on!

WOOP! (There it is. :)

This is the uber-practical, scientifically proven (!) way to bring your dreams to life.

Wish + Outcome + Obstacle + Plan.

WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!!

Wish: What do you want to see in your life personally or professionally? Imagine something challenging yet feasible you can achieve in a year, month, week or day.

Outcome: What is the #1 benefit you would experience as a result?

Obstacle: What obstacle *within you* stands in the way of achieving that wish? (Emphasis on “within you”!)

Plan: What can you do to get around that obstacle? What’s the #1 most effective thing you could do?

Oettingen walks us through a really cool guided exercise to unpack these elements. We want to think in images and allow them to float thru our minds freely rather than being overly rational about it—allowing us to engage what she calls our “nonconscious minds.”

She also provides a shorter written exercise.

Here it is: “On a blank sheet of paper, name the wish in three to six words. Identify the best outcome (also in three to six words) and write it down. Now let your thoughts lead your pen, taking as much paper as you need. Then name your obstacle and write it down. Imagine the obstacle, again letting your thoughts wander and lead your writing. To create a plan, first write down one specific action you can take to overcome the obstacle. Write down the time and place where you believe the obstacle will arise. Then write down the if-then plan: ‘f obstacle x occurs (when and where), then I will perform behavior y.’ Repeat it once to yourself out loud.”

Let’s do that now. (Time to move from theory to PRACTICE!!)

Name your wishin 3 to 6 words: ________________________________

Identify the best outcome/benefit in 3 to 6 words: _______________________________

Name your obstacle: ________________________________

Now write down your if-then plan: IF ________________________________ occurs THEN I will ________________________________.

WOOP!!!!

Remember: Science says this is extraordinarily powerful. Remember x2: We can do this for *everything* in our lives.

I’m sold! You?

Seriously. I’m already using this throughout my day and Alexandra and I are having fun adding some WOOP sauce to our lives. (And we look forward to teaching Emerson. :)

In the numerous WOOP interventions Gabriele and her team have conducted with a broad range of people (from young students to professionals), she often has them use a cool card that looks like this:

Here’s an example for an exercise-based WOOP intervention (participants in the WOOP group got crazy better results than the controls):

Oettingen also has an app you might love. Check it out here.

For now, fill this little guy out and practice with big and little things throughout your day!

These are the two vital questions for us to keep in mind:

What is your dearest wish?

What holds you back from achieving it?

Here’s to embracing the new science of motivation that encourages us to hold both the positive wishes and the challenges as we enjoy the process of optimizing and actualizing!