Notes

Self help: forget positive thinking, attempt positive action
Growth strategy

For years self-help gurus have preached the exact same basic mantra: if you want to enhance your life then you need to alter how you believe. Force yourself to have favorable ideas and you will end up being happier. Imagine your dream self and you will take pleasure in increased success. Believe like a millionaire and you will amazingly grow rich. In concept, this concept sounds completely sensible. However, in practice it typically proves ineffective.

Take visualisation. Hundreds of self-improvement books motivate readers to close their eyes and envision their perfect selves; to see themselves in a big office at the top of the corporate ladder, or drinking a cocktail as they feel the warm Caribbean sand between their toes. Unfortunately, research recommends this technique does not work.



In one research study led by Lien Pham at the University of California, students were asked to invest a few moments each day visualising themselves getting a high grade in an upcoming exam. Even though the fantasizing workout just lasted a few minutes, it caused the students to study less and obtain lower marks. In another experiment led by Gabriele Oettingen from New York City University, graduates were asked to note down how typically they fantasised about getting their dream task after leaving college. The students who reported that they frequently fantasised about such success got fewer job offers and wound up with substantially smaller incomes.

Why should this be so? Perhaps those who fantasise about a fantastic life are ill-prepared for obstacles, or end up being hesitant to put in the effort needed to accomplish their objective. In either case, the message is clear-- imagining the perfect you is bad for your life.

Nevertheless, when it comes to alter, the message is not all gloom and doom. Years of research study show that there is undoubtedly a easy but extremely efficient way to transform how you believe and feel. The technique turns sound judgment on its head however is grounded in science. Oddly, the story starts with a world-renowned Victorian thinker and an imaginary bear.

Operating At Harvard University in the late 19th century, William James, bro of the author Henry James, was attracted to the non-traditional, often walking school sporting a silk hat and red-checked trousers, and describing his theories using amusing prose ("As long as one poor cockroach feels the pangs of unrequited love, this world is not a moral world"). This non-traditional technique paid off. First released in 1890, James's two-volume magnum opus The Concepts of Psychology is still needed reading for trainees of behavioural science.

Website: https://nadersabry.com/