Failing in February? How to Revive Your New Year's Resolutions with WOOP Goals.
It's that time of year again: the gyms have been packed, green juices are flowing, and everyone is trying to stick to their New Year's resolutions past the month of January. For many, we all know how this story ends. By February, the gym is back to its usual sparse population, the green juices are nowhere to be found, and those lofty goals you set for yourself are long forgotten. Sound familiar?
Fear not, my friends, because there's a scientific way to make your New Year's resolutions stick: WOOP goals. WOOP, which stands for "Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan," is a goal-setting technique developed by Gabriele Oettingen, a psychologist and researcher at New York University.
What sets WOOP apart from other goal-setting techniques is its focus on both positive thinking and realistic planning. A process called “mental contrasting” that leverages both pleasant and unpleasant emotion. The process involves four steps:
Wish: Start by thinking about what you truly want to achieve. Be specific and make it something that excites you.
Outcome: Visualize the outcome of reaching your goal. See yourself successfully completing it and imagine how you will feel.
Obstacle: Identify the obstacles that are preventing you from reaching your goal. Be honest with yourself and identify both internal and external obstacles.
Plan: Develop a plan to overcome the obstacles you identified in step 3. Make sure it's a realistic plan that you can stick to.
WOOP goals are more likely to be successful because they not only help you focus on what you want to achieve, but they also help you develop a plan to overcome any obstacles that may arise. And that's exactly what we need to make our New Year's resolutions stick.
But what about those obstacles that inevitably pop up? Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University explains that we often have a hard time sticking to our goals because we get caught up in the moment and our emotions take over. We might set a goal to eat healthy, but then we get tempted by the delicious smelling food at a restaurant and give in to our cravings.
How do we avoid this emotional trap? Ariely suggests setting up pre-commitments. Pre-commitments are actions we take in advance to make it easier to stick to our goals in the future. For example, if you set a goal to eat healthy, you could pre-commit by cooking healthy meals for the week or bringing healthy snacks with you wherever you go.
So, how can you better stick to your goals by leveraging the science behind WOOP goals and pre-commitments? Here are three tangible steps you can take to make your New Year's resolutions stick:
Get specific: Instead of setting a vague goal like "eat healthier," set a specific goal like "eat at least two servings of fruits and vegetables each day."
Use WOOP: Go through the WOOP process. Start with visualizing the outcome, but also make sure you focus on the O and the P. That means having a plan to overcome any obstacles that may arise in your pursuit of that goal.
Set up pre-commitments: Identify the situations where you are most likely to give in to your cravings (obstacles) and set up pre-commitments to make it easier to stick to your goals.
There’s no silver bullet to tapping into your highest levels of discipline and motivation, but using the great science behind WOOP goals and pre-commitments can do you a lot of good.
Here’s to your continued journey toward well-being, optimal performance and antifragility!
Nick and Adam
