MaXIMIze - Optimism vs. Action

I recently read an interview of Gabrielle Oettingen, author of Rethinking Positive Thinking, by Magdalena Puniewska in The Atlantic magazine.

In this interview, Ms. Oettingen talks about a process she calls "mental contrasting" - visualizing the goal one wants to reach and then going through all the potential roadblocks to reaching that goal.

This outlook or concept is actually right in line with my coaching training and practice, as noted in the posts from this time last year on identifying roadblocks and assessing them.

Optimism and the power of positive thinking are wonderful tools, however they are only one set of tools, one piece of the puzzle as it were. While we need the belief we can attain our goals, no matter how lofty, we also need the realism to identify potential roadblocks and obstacles in our path to those goals.

This is called planning, and planning is the first step in taking goals from daydreams to reality.

Moving from dreaming to doing means being able not only to visualize where you want to be but also to be able to plan out the "how" - plan out the route to get from where you are now to where you want to be. And that means being able to identify potential roadblocks, obstacles, and issues. When you plan for a trip, you take into account traffic flow during certain parts of the day and weather conditions during certain parts of the year, right? Plotting the course from where you are now to where you want to be in life takes the same tools and skills as planning a trip.

Now to get to the title of this post - Optimism vs. Action. I know I said we'd talk about optimism versus pessimism, however when I read that article my focus shifted.

Yes, we need the optimism to dream and aim high much more than we need the pessimism of potential failure. We also need the action of planning and moving forward down our path rather than staying in the dream state of simply visualizing our rosy future.

Remember having to answer the five questions - WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW - in English class during writing assignments?

Well, you are the WHO. That vision of your rosy future is the WHAT and the WHERE.  The planning is the HOW, and moving forward down the path toward your future is the WHEN.

Now write your story; live your best life now!

Until next time, Namaste!