Master the Art of Setting Goals in 4 Steps

Go Beyond Dreaming

First, let’s talk about what a goal is not. It’s not a fantasy or a daydream, both of which seldom get past the mulling stage into concrete action; they’re simply notions that eventually tend to be discarded. And Oettingen, over the past two decades, has performed study after study to investigate why so many big wishes evaporate, with this conclusion: “Daydreams and fantasies may be pleasant at the moment, and they can spur us to perform easy tasks,” Oettingen says. “But they hinder us in handling the hard tasks.”

For instance, the more frequently college students fantasized about a successful career transition, the fewer applications they sent out and the fewer job offers they received. Overweight women who pictured their svelte post-diet selves breezing past the dessert table lost 24 pounds less than those who anticipated wrestling with temptation.

But dreams can play a vital role in helping us form goals if we juxtapose them with an acknowledgment of the impediments. Oettingen has developed a four-step method that can fully commit you to feasible goals and can help you let go of those that aren’t. She calls the method “WOOP,” outlined below.

Wish

Find a time and place where you can focus for 15 or 20 minutes uninterrupted. Identify a wish in your personal or professional life that you think is challenging but possible.

Outcome

Keep holding the wish in your mind and imagine the very best things about making it a reality. What does the outcome look and feel like? Let yourself experience this in your mind as vividly as you can.

Obstacle

What is it that might hold you back from achieving the goal? Don’t think only of external obstacles such as the economy. Dig deeply to uncover the internal barriers, whether it’s a behavior (standing on the sidelines at networking events), an emotion (anxiety) or a self-defeating thought (I’m always the least interesting person in the room).

Plan

Name one action you can take to overcome the obstacle. An if-then approach can be helpful. If I’m always too pressed by deadlines to attend networking events, then I’ll pick two functions at the beginning of the month and schedule them as though they’re client meetings and can’t be canceled. If I feel anxious when I go to the mixer, I’ll find one person who’s standing alone and introduce myself.

SOURCE; SUCCESS.COM