Do you WOOP?

Happy 2018! If you’re like me, you’re excited to have a clean slate of opportunity to focus on as the New Year begins. Part of my eagerness is tied to creating fresh goals to work toward. Dr. Gabriele Oettingen, professor of psychology at New York University, developed this process for identifying and achieving motivating aims that make you WOOP with anticipation:

W – Wish: What is an important wish you want to accomplish, and over what time period? Choose a goal that is meaningful, challenging, and feasible. Oettingen suggests keeping your answer to this question brief, a maximum of 6 words. One of mine is, “Graduate from the Innosphere startup program.”

O – Outcome: What will be the best result from accomplishing your wish? How will you feel? This process is more effective if you connect your emotions to your thoughts, so imagine your sensations when the goal is realized…visualize it and hold the feelings in your mind.

O – Obstacle: What is the main obstacle inside you that might prevent you from accomplishing your wish? Dig deep to connect with your inner blocks. Whatever you identify as your hurdle should be something internal to you, not an outside impediment you can’t control. For me, it’s belief that I have what it takes to learn and implement the steps necessary to succeed.

P – Plan: Select an effective action to tackle the obstacle. Oettingen suggests filling in this statement: “If ____, then I will _____”, such as “If I start feeling lost and overwhelmed, then I will reach out to the advisors who are part of my program for help.”

Consider writing WOOP goals for any high priority area of your life: professional, health, finances, family, etc., and then review, revise, and add to your goals daily to keep them fresh in your mind, and to monitor your progress.

Will it work? Well according to Oettingen, different from other goal-writing methodologies, the WOOP process better connects to your emotional drivers, increasing its effectiveness.

So as you ring in the New Year, do it with a WOOP and a holler for an even better 2018.

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