We’ve all heard about the power of positive thinking but research published two weeks ago and conducted over 20 years suggests that positive thinking doesn’t actually help us as much as we suppose. In fact, across dozens of peer-reviewed studies examining the effects of positive visions of the future on people pursuing various kinds of wishes have consistently found that people who positively fantasize make either the same or less progress in achieving attainable wishes than those who don’t.
Dreaming about a successful outcome in the future is pleasurable, leaving you with a nice, warm feeling of satisfaction. But in a workplace setting, that’s counter-productive. You’re less motivated to buck up and make the strong, persistent effort that is usually required to realize challenging but feasible wishes. Unfortunately, just dwelling on reality doesn’t help much either.
What does help is mental contrasting, an exercise that brings together our positive fantasy about the future with a visualization of the obstacle standing in the way. Even more beneficial is adding if-then planning that allows you to address the obstacle when it arises.
In their research, they developed a mental contrasting tool called WOOP — Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan and it works like this: Find a quiet place, switch off your devices, and close your eyes. Name a wish that is attainable or realistic for you — say, landing a new client. Then imagine for a few minutes what would happen if that wish came true, letting the images flow freely through your mind. Then identify the main obstacle inside you that stands in the way, and imagine it for a few minutes. Now on to your plan: If faced with obstacle X, then you will take effective action Y in response.
The technique is simple, easy, and inexpensive - in a study of health care providers, it was found that those who used WOOP were significantly more engaged with their work and less stressed than members of a control group. It works because the process either helps people understand that their wishes are attainable, giving them energy and direction, heightening their engagement and prompting them to act; or it helps them realize their wishes are unrealistic, leading them to disengage and freeing them up to pursue more promising goals.
Although positive thinking feels good in the moment, it often bears a false promise. Only when it’s paired with a clear view of potential obstacles will it consistently produce desirable results.
© Harvard Business Review. Research conducted by Gabriele Oettingen and colleagues. Gabriele Oettingen is a professor of psychology at New York University and the University of Hamburg and the author of Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation.