“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
— Yoda

Goal Achievement: The Magic of WOOP

“Dream big! Think only positive thoughts! Be optimistic! Banish negativity! Dwell on the vision of who you can become! Imagine having achieved your goals, and bask in those positive feelings!”

You’ve been hearing the familiar chorus promoting positive thinking and self-affirmations your entire life. It’s the staple of countless motivational speakers, self-help books, grade school classroom posters, and flowery memes on social media. It’s a given that the secret to achievement is positive thinking, right? Well, brace yourself for a healthy dose of science! In fact, when it comes to actually achieving your goals, positive thinking (specifically, imagining the positive outcomes of your efforts) doesn’t work. Positive thinking, on its own, can actually sap a person’s motivation for working toward and achieving important goals. Wait, what?! How could this be?

This is a fascinating research story over 20 years in the making. It begins with early research by Gabrielle Oettingen and colleagues showing that in study after study, people who engaged in positive thinking about future success were actually less likely on average to achieve their goals. This was observed in studies for a broad range of outcomes, including weight loss, academic achievement, relationships, and physical health.

How could positive thinking get in the way of goal achievement? Well, the human brain is a fascinating and complex system. Research has shown that positive thinking is most helpful when a person lacks confidence in achieving a goal; positive visualization helps the brain conceive of pathways that could actually lead to success, increasing self-efficacy and positive action toward the goal. However, if you already have a reasonable amount of confidence and ability for the task, the pleasant experience of visualizing its accomplishment saps motivation because your brain already has the satisfaction of having achieved it, even if only in your imagination. Similarly, the brain likes to be hyper-efficient with how much energy it assigns to various tasks, and positive visualization makes the brain assume that the goal will be easier to accomplish than it actually is. So, it allocates less energy and motivation to the task, reducing meaningful actions toward actually achieving the goal.

As we’ll soon see, positive thinking can be helpful when done in the right way. When it comes to achieving important goals, positive thinking is best combined with a healthy dose of reality, including the likely obstacles (particularly inner obstacles) that you can expect to get in the way. The process of positive visualization plus imagining the potential obstacles you will face is known in the research literature as mental contrasting. And when you combine mental contrasting with a plan to address those likely obstacles (known as implementation intentions), now you’re really maximizing your chances to actually achieve your goal! Oettingen and colleagues have operationalized this process using the catchy “WOOP” acronym. Here’s an introduction to how it works:

Now listen to Dr. Oettingen describe the four main steps of WOOP:

The research supporting WOOP for goal achievement is impressive. Using mental contrasting with implementation intentions has been shown to facilitate weight loss, reduce stress, enhance relationships, manage physical pain, and increase work engagement and academic achievement, among other outcomes. This research is also a great example of how positive psychology is important as a science of wellbeing; this work has helped clarify the nuanced relationships between positive thinking and goal achievement in ways that folk wisdom would never have predicted. You can follow this link to learn more about the basic science behind mental contrasting and implementation intentions.

Personal Application

Are you ready to do this yourself? Here are the steps you can use right now to maximize your efforts to achieve any goal that is important to you. For this exercise, pick a goal that you would like to accomplish in the next few weeks (you can also use different timeframes as appropriate for a particular goal). Go ahead and bring to mind an important goal (perhaps from the previous section) and walk yourself through the WOOP acronym:

  • W: Wish. What is one very important wish you would like to accomplish in the next few weeks? This wish should be meaningful, challenging, and realistic. Write down 3-6 words to summarize your wish.

  • O: Outcome. What would be the best outcome that would result from accomplishing your wish? Write down 3-6 words to summarize this best outcome. Now take a moment and think about this best outcome in detail. How would fulfilling your wish make you feel? Let your mind go and imagine this best outcome as fully as you can.

  • O: Obstacle. What is the main personal obstacle that would prevent you from accomplishing your goal? This might be a challenging thought or emotion, a bad habit, or an irrational belief. What in you might get in the way of achieving your wish? Write down 3-6 words to summarize your main inner obstacle. Now let your mind go and imagine this inner obstacle in detail. Be aware of the circumstances in which this obstacle is likely to come up. Imagine how this obstacle could arise and thwart your precious wish.

  • P: Plan. What can you do to overcome your obstacle? Identify one effective action you can take or one effective thought you can use to overcome your obstacle. Note your action or thought in 3-6 words. Now write out the plan as follows: “If… (obstacle you named), then I will… (response you named).” Slowly repeat this plan again in your mind. Now, get moving with effective action to make your wish a reality, and be ready to use your plan!

There it is; you’ve set yourself up for success! You can use WOOP for practically anything; daily goals, short-term goals, life goals, stress reduction, group tasks, even vacation planning! Experiment and find the domains in your life where it may be most useful! Perhaps the best way to use WOOP could be in developing a new growth habit. In the next section you’ll learn how to use the power of habit to set your positive growth trajectory on “cruise control.”

WOOP Resources