Turn Positive Thinking into Focused Action

Key Takeaways

• Simply visualizing or imagining yourself achieving your goals could reduce the chance of actually reaching them.
• Taking positive action steps may help bolster the attitude you need to succeed.
• Organize your goals in groups of three—but tackle only one goal at a time.

Advocates of the power of positive thinking tell us that if we adjust our attitudes to be more upbeat and visualize what we most want—in life, our careers or our businesses—we will find ourselves moving toward those goals in a way that can feel almost effortless.

Sounds great, right?

The problem: Positive thinking simply isn’t enough. Sure, it can be helpful in some situations, and it makes sense that positivity is better than negativity. But you may be surprised to learn it can actually hinder your results and reduce the probability that you will achieve your key objectives.?

Here's why, along with advice that can empower you to harness the helpful aspects of positive thinking and turn them into actual behaviors and actions that may help you achieve your goals.

The limits of positivity

The idea that a positive outlook is the key to getting what you want in life—that “attitude is everything”—has been a key tenet of many self-help practitioners and coaches for the past decade or more. It’s easy to see why the theory holds such appeal. Who wouldn’t want to buy into a viewpoint that the easiest way to get on the path to huge success is to simply envision yourself running down that path?

What’s more, there’s something to the theory. People with overall positive emotions tend to have better “downstream life outcomes”—psychology-speak for things like stronger friendships, higher marital satisfaction and higher income.

But the problem comes when people take positive thinking to such an extreme that it actually holds them back—when thinking positively becomes something more like thinking magically. Two examples from academic research:

• Students who were asked to visualize themselves getting a good grade on an upcoming exam studied less—and got poorer grades—than did students who weren’t asked to visualize the outcome.
• Students who fantasized often about getting their dream job reported getting fewer job offers—and earned lower salaries—than those who didn’t fantasize about such results as frequently.

What’s going on here? It’s possible that daydreaming about great outcomes may actually feel so good and comfortable that it decreases our motivation to take and sustain the positive actions required to make those daydreams reality. And unfortunately, too many people fall into the trap of assuming that positive thinking is all it takes to bring us to our desired destination.

The importance of positive action

Since positivity itself isn’t enough in many instances, what should we augment our good attitudes with?

One idea: Start with positive actions, which may boost our positive attitudes. Renowned American psychologist William James was among the first to suggest that our actions can actually create or enhance our emotions. In other words, we may smile because we’re happy or frown because we’re sad—but if we actively smile or frown, we may become happier or sadder. His theory has been tested over the years, including a well-known experiment in which people were told to make facial expressions that were angry, happy, sad and so on. The participants reported happier feelings after they made themselves smile, and angrier feelings when they clenched their jaws.

In other words, if you act like you’re feeling a certain way—or act like you’re a specific type of person with attributes or characteristics you want to possess—you may actually move closer to having those feelings or adopting those traits. The key, however, is not to imagine or daydream or focus on “adjusting your attitude”—but rather to focus on taking positive action toward where you want to go or how you want to be.

One powerful example that may hit home: A Harvard psychologist assessed eight men on metrics such as dexterity, grip strength, flexibility, hearing, vision, memory and cognition. She then invited them to stay in a monastery that was converted so all the items in it (TVs, magazines) were from the late 1950s, when the men were younger and healthier. There also were no mirrors in the rooms—just photos of the men from much earlier in their lives. Their instructions: Talk about subjects and act in ways they would have when they were young men.?

The result: After five days, the group showed greater manual dexterity and sat taller, their eyesight improved, and independent judges said they looked younger. Essentially, acting as if they were younger gave them some of the traits of their younger selves.

The power of deliberate, informed action

Of course, you’re probably going to need to do a lot more than smile and act young to reach your goals—particularly the ambitious ones that mean the most to you (and your family and maybe your company).

A few months ago, we examined how you can engage in smart goal setting (see “Here’s How Successful People Set Goals for Themselves”). But once you’ve got rock-solid goals, you need to do the work—and that work must be focused and deliberate in order to be effective.

Here are some of the best ways we know of to take actions that are on target and informed by your goals:

1. Think in 3s.?

An approach to executing on goals favored by Michael Hyatt—a productivity and goal-setting expert (and author of five books on those topics)—is to organize those goals in packs of three: three goals for the current quarter, three objectives for each week and three tasks to complete each day, all of which dovetail into each other. So, for example, your weekly objectives need to be ones that move you toward the accomplishment of one of your three big goals for the quarter, and your daily three should be related to your weekly objectives.?

Why three? Hyatt found that the average person’s daily task list contains a sea of 15 items. By applying the Pareto principle—which says that 20 percent of our effort drives 80 percent of our results—you can shrink that list to the three most crucial tasks, and then seek to outsource as many of the others as possible (or simply cross ’em off the list). Hyatt notes that this simple “three pack” strategy is often the biggest factor in his clients’ success.

2. Do one thing at a time—seriously.

Once you have a list of high-priority actions to take, don’t worry too much about how you order them. The far more valuable step is to choose one task and focus on doing just that task instead of doing what most people do: multitask between two or three to-do list items.?

The reason: Research suggests that trying to do two or more things at the same time results in longer time frames to finish the jobs. That’s because multitasking isn’t really multitasking—it’s actually task switching, where you jump back and forth from one task to another and have to reorient your brain each time. As you might expect, that’s a highly inefficient way to get things done—and one that ups the odds of making errors. Or as one neuroscientist put it: “When people say they can [multitask well], they’re deluding themselves.”

Best bet: Start with a high-priority task and stick with it, switching to another task or distraction only when you can no longer make meaningful progress on the first task. Consider using tech tools like web site blockers during productive periods of your day to optimize your ability to focus. When you’re once again able to make big strides on the high-priority task, return to it as soon as possible.?

3. Create motivational and accountability systems.

Monitoring your progress toward your goal or goals “has a robust effect on goal attainment,” according to one study done by U.S. and U.K. psychologists. Here again, tech tools and apps can help you monitor, track and record your progress as you take informed action. Consider also including obstacles that got in your way when your progress slows, which helps provide context for those moments when you may get off track—which in turn may help you stay more positive. For example, say you fail to tackle any of your three objectives for a given week. Knowing that the reason was, say, a stressful event that was beyond your control can potentially stop you from beating yourself up and losing motivation.

Similarly, consider joining a social or a professional group of members who are also pursuing big, meaningful goals. For example, mastermind groups bring together like-minded people who are driven to succeed. By surrounding yourself with these people and reporting your progress to each other, you create a sense of accountability and a positive “social pressure” that can help keep you pushing yourself forward and doing what you say you’re going to do. Even a small group of friends, peers or co-workers who are all aiming at similar goals can be enough to keep you engaged in your mission.?

Conclusion

Building and maintaining a positive attitude toward your goals is vital, but it’s just not adequate in most cases. By combining the right perspective with positive actions that are informed by clear, well-defined goals, you can potentially put yourself on a better path to achieving those goals faster and with less stress than it might otherwise take.?

VFO Inner Circle Special Report?By John J. Bowen Jr.

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