What do you dream of accomplishing? Do you have vision boards and motivational quotes to inspire you? I’ve always thought that imagining myself achieving my goal would lead me to eventually accomplish it. However, researchers are finding that while positive thinking and affirmations are great, there’s something missing.
A popular idea in today’s culture is that thinking positively will help us achieve our goals. We think that if we want to achieve something, we just have to manifest it into existence. If we repeat the affirmation, “I will get an A on this test” or “I can run this marathon,” we think we’ll succeed. Yes, this definitely helps, but Gabriele Oettingen, a Professor of Psychology at New York University and the University of Hamburg, says this isn’t enough. We cannot merely wish something into existence.
On her website, WOOPmylife.org, Oettingen explains that positive thinking needs to “incorporate a clear sense of reality.” Along with thinking of the best outcome (positive thinking), we need to look inward for the obstacles in ourselves that hold us back from reaching that goal (reality). When we do these two things, we can plan how to overcome when those obstacles come up.
“[WOOP] is a way to get from dreaming to doing,” Garbriele Oettingen.
Does it work?
This idea isn’t just a cool idea she thought of one day. She and other researchers have done tons of experiments on this idea. If you are interested in learning about more of these experiments, you can find a long list of them on her website. I’ll explain just two below.
In 2013, Angela Duckworth and colleagues taught struggling fifth graders in America Oettingen’s technique. They had each student choose an academic goal they wanted to achieve. They then had these students do this technique every morning before school. Later, they compared their GPAs, attendance, and conduct to see if it had changed while using this technique. What they found was increased GPAs (an average increase from a C+ to a B-), improved conduct, and fewer absences.
In 2009, Gertraud Stadler and colleagues taught the technique to middle-aged women with the goal to increase physical fitness goals. They then measured the hours of activity for these women immediately and months later. 1 week, 2 weeks, and even 10 weeks later, the women with this technique were exercising about twice as much as the women in a control group (not taught the technique).
So, what is this technique exactly? It’s a simple, four-step technique called WOOP. This stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, and Plan. Going through these four steps for five minutes each morning will help you become more likely to achieve your goal. So, let’s dive in and look at these steps.
Wish
This wish is a simple explanation of what you want to change in your life over the next few weeks. This isn’t what other people want. What do you want? There are so many things we think we should wish for, but our wish should be something that we actually want. It should also be something within your grasp, though a little challenging still.
Be specific as you think about your wish. Think about yourself working on this task. Where will you be? Who will you be with? How often will you work on it? When will you do this?
Identify your wish, phrase it in a few words, and keep it in your mind.
Outcome
What would be the best outcome if I accomplished this? How would I feel after achieving this? How would your life be different? Think with as much specificity and detail as you can for a minute. Feel yourself achieving this goal. Imagine the feeling, phrase it in a few words, and tuck it into your mind.
Obstacle
What is it in me that is holding me back from accomplishing this goal right now? What is my main inner obstacle? This could be self-doubt, pride, fear, a bad habit, resentment, or an irrational belief. It should not be something outside of your control like depending on another person. I would add that along with the main inner obstacle, it would be helpful to think of situations in which you may fail.
For example, my goal is to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. My main inner obstacle is my fear of missing out on other things while I sleep. However, another obstacle I may face is not being able to fall asleep when I lay down. I believe this is also important to note because of the next step in this technique.
Spend a minute or two thinking about what is holding you back. Phrase this obstacle in a few words. Now, imagine facing that obstacle. This probably won’t be a pleasant feeling, but it’s important to understand that this is an obstacle you need to overcome.
Plan
Now that you know the obstacle you are facing, it’s time to make a plan to overcome it. What would be an effective action I could take?
This plan is an if-then plan. If x, then y. In my example, if I fear I’ll miss out while I sleep, then I will remember that tomorrow is a new day with more opportunities and I will have a clearer mind and be happier if I sleep now. If I cannot fall asleep at night, I will turn on a sleep meditation from my phone.
You can see that identifying the obstacle and making a plan to overcome it leads to actually overcoming it. You are not only dreaming, you are doing.
Recap
We’ve seen that positive thinking isn’t enough alone. Dwelling on obstacles and failing isn’t good either. It’s when we combine the two and form a plan to overcome that we see success.
With these four steps, we think about our wish in detail, we imagine ourselves in the optimal outcome, we determine our inner obstacle (along with other relevant ones), and we make an if-then plan. Based on the research, you’ll see results.
Have you ever tried WOOP before? What is your goal for this week?
Here’s an interview with Gabriele Oettingen, the founder of WOOP.
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