Dr Laurie Santos from The Happiness LabWe often think positive thinking is the best way to achieve our ambitions - but the science shows it holds us all back. Dr Laurie Santos hears how champion swimmer Michael Phelps imagined the worst to help make his Olympic dreams come true.
It takes what it takes.
–Bob Bowman, swimming coach of 23-time Olympic medal winning swimmer Michael Phelps
On planning:
Hope is not a course of action.
–Kristin Beck, Senior chief petty officer, United States Navy SEAL, ret.
Gabriele Oettingen’s work and the Woop concept (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan) sound interesting. Perhaps worth reading some of her work:
Oettingen, G. (2015). Rethinking positive thinking: Inside the new science of motivation. Current.
“You name the goal, and research shows that positive thinking makes it less likely you’ll reach it.”
“It’s a strategy Gabrielle calls “mental contrasting.”
“In addition to simulating the obstacles, Gabrielle also recommends taking time to imagine— very intentionally— what it would feel like to implement our plan whenever the obstacle comes up.”
Some of the ideas behind the WOOP concept remind me of some tangential sounding philosophy and framing that Matt Maldre wrote about in his recent posts about New Year’s resolutions. [1] [2]
WOOP also seems tangential to some areas of memory research as the visualization can tend to create “false” memories that one can look back on as experience when moving toward a particular goal. I often found that in my diving practices in college I did significantly better on new dives when I visualized them or practiced them in my mind several days and even the night before practices.