It turns out that positive thinking in the form of free thoughts or fantasies actually encourages avoidance behaviour. Research shows that these thoughts are not beneficial to effort, action, performance, and well being. That's because indulging in fantasies of an easily attained future yields less effort, impairs ability to anticipate obstacles, inspires fewer precautions and failure to take advantage of opportunities. Positive fantasies often idealize the process needed to achieve an outcome. To paraphrase a lot of research: If you fantasize (or visualize) yourself as having successfully achieved your goals, it is less likely that you will actually perform the actions necessary to achieve those goals. The reduced effort and lower success rate can, over time, also lead to impaired mental health and depressive symptoms. Research suggests that it is better to set realistic expectations from the onset.
Fortunately Dr. Gabriele
Oettingen's research uncovered a strategy that actually works. It's a simple, painless exercise that you can master with minimal time and effort.
Start by taking five minutes to yourself away from distractions such as computers and phones and conversation. You may even find the ideal opportunity on your way home on the subway—whatever works for you.
First think about
a goal or objective. Dr. Oettingen calls it a “wish.” You can pick a
challenging wish but it should also be feasible. The wish does not need to be complex and ideally
can be summed up in only a few words. Begin by identifying a wish that you can achieve within a short time frame, say about four weeks.
Next spend a few minutes thinking about the best possible outcome of that wish. How will the fulfillment of that wish make you happy? Although there could be a multitude of benefits resulting from that wish, think of only one outcome and the benefits of that outcome. You are setting an expectation of success for yourself, so don’t come up with “back-up plan outcomes” for this process -- it’s counter-productive.
Researchers call the third stage 'mental contrasting', and it’s a crucial part of this process. Think of the obstacles and identify those that stand between you and attaining your wish. You may also find that sometimes, if the wish is a big one, it may have to be broken down into several smaller components. But clearly identify and understand all the obstacles. Can you can control and realistically overcome these obstacles? (For example; if the obstacle involves winning lottery numbers then you should discard that wish because you have no control over the outcome.) This step helps you to focus your energy on achievable pursuits and also allows you to discard and let go of unfeasible wishes (and daydreams).
The fourth and final step is called ‘implementation intentions’, or for the sake of this exercise, ‘if and then’ statements. At this point you decide what action to take when that obstacle appears, or perhaps what action to take to prevent that obstacle from appearing. For example; if an obstacle to losing weight is choosing snacks over healthy food, then you might set a bowl of apples on the counter instead of chips. ‘If’ you feel the urge to snack, ‘then’ you will eat an apple instead. Now you have an action plan of 'if' and 'then' to overcome each obstacle.
‘Mental contrasting and implementation intentions’ provides strong goal commitment and facilitates behaviour change. It triggers creativity and new insights. It energizes people to successfully attain wishes that are within their reach by setting expectations. If the chosen goals are beyond reach then this process promotes disengagement and frees up energy for the attainment of realistic goals. MCII also promotes a form of self-regulation that can be easily and cost-effectively taught by sales managers when coaching or setting budgets.
So think of a wish; think of the best outcome; find the obstacles to that outcome; and decide on actions to overcome each obstacle. If the obstacles are insurmountable, then let go of that wish and focus on a new one. This will give you a much higher rate of success than simply 'positive thinking' or visualizing. All of these steps are discussed in detail in the following articles, but for now just remember: This technique only works if you do all four of these steps.
[1] Future thought and behaviour change
Gabriele Oettingen
a)
b) Department of Psychology,
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