I recently wrote about habits which reminded me of a coaching technique I learned early on in my training and, more recently, a course that Yale University offered for free on the Science of Wellbeing.
One of the course teachings was Implementation Intentions. I'm already familiar with these and use this technique as a coach. The concept was first introduced by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer and it is 'a self-regulatory strategy in the form of an "if... then..." plan.' Putting these into practice can lead to better goal attainment and increased habit change and performance. It's quite simple really, I'll use the example of food because we can probably all relate to that! Imagine there are always chocolate biscuits on offer in your workplace. And you always eat them! This is a habit you want to change, you want to eat healthier and improve your diet, lose weight, whatever the reason. So you need something else to take the place of the chocolate biscuit, it doesn't have to be another piece of food, it can be an action, too. So one Implementation Intention could be, "If I walk into the staff room and see the chocolate biscuits, then I'll turn around and walk to the fruit bowl." You can use these for so many areas of your life, scenarios or habits you want to change. Somehow, our automatic systems listen and pay attention to what we told ourselves we'd do outside of the situation so that when we find ourselves in the staff room looking at the chocolate biscuits, our automatic systems listen and pay attention. It works on our automatic urges. We have to have a level of specificity to make this work, simply saying "I won't eat the chocolate biscuits anymore" just won't be as effective as putting a specific "if... then..." plan in place.
The Yale lecture then led to another mental strategy called WOOP which incorporates Implementation Intentions. WOOP stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle and Plan and this was new to me. It was developed by psychologist Gabriele Oettingen.
Its four stages are simple:
1. Think about your Wish.
2. Think about the best Outcome of that wish fulfillment.
3. Think about potential Obstacles.
4. Develop your If...Then... plan.
I really like this as it uses vision and holding onto your vision is so powerful in helping to achieve your goals. Gabriele Oettingen says you can use this to make a plan of action to achieve your goals but also use WOOP to clean up your life and get rid of what is no longer serving you. To complete a #WOOP strategy all you need is 5 minutes of quiet, where you can think, without distraction. Let's look at it in it's stages:
WISH - In your quiet 5 minutes start here and ask yourself, "What is my most important wish?" for my life today, this week, this month, this year. Whatever it may be. What do you really want? Isolate one important wish and try and put it succinctly (us coaches like things to be succinct!) in 3 to 6 words, then hold it in the forefront of your mind. Take a moment to imagine it.
OUTCOME - Now you have your wish, ask yourself, "What would be the best outcome if I fulfilled that wish?" Really think what would be the best thing from wish fulfillment? How would you feel having fulfilled your wish? Now put your outcome in 3 to 6 words and take a moment to feel it, really feel it. Experience the outcome in your mind.
OBSTACLE - Now we are switching gears. Ask yourself, "What will stop me from fulfilling my wish? What is it that is in me that stands in the way? What is my main inner obstacle?" Gabriele Oettingen says this could be an emotion, an irrational belief or a bad habit, for example. She wants you to find the obstacle. Dig deeper if you can't, it's there or your wish would already by fulfilled. What is it really, that stands in the way? Put this again in 3 to 6 words, hold it in your mind and really imagine this occurring, the obstacle is in your way. Feel it and experience it in your mind.
PLAN - Final question, "What could I do to overcome that obstacle?" "What would be an effective action or thought that would enable me to overcome the obstacle?" Once again, put it in 3 to 6 words and imagine it.
Now, you can make your simple 'if...then...' plan; create your Implementation Intention.
"If (place your obstacle here) then I will (effective action/plan goes here)."
Now imagine your If... Then... plan occurring.
By taking 5 minutes to put some mental effort into a WOOP exercise, you are triggering unconscious processes which will automatically switch on when faced with the obstacle.
When she talks of using WOOP to clean up your life or do a mental clear out Gabriele Oettingen explains that you may realise that some wishes really aren't feasible once you identify the obstacle and then you can let them go and focus on the more feasible wishes. You want them to be feasible yet challenging. With WOOP what she wants is for you to get really involved in the process. We are talking about wish fulfillment after all!
She does stress the obstacle, saying it is critical. She says do your WOOP in the right order but also pay attention to the obstacle. In an interview with her, she explains to Dr. Laurie Santos that the WOOP links the future (your wish fulfillment) with the obstacle. It also links the obstacle with the instrumental means to overcome it (your behaviour plan). She explains that a WOOP changes the meaning of reality when you recognise obstacles. The example she gives is that the party on Saturday night is not a fun thing anymore when it can destroy your chances of doing well in an exam on Monday morning. The party becomes the obstacle to doing well in the exam. So you change your behaviour by giving it a miss or leaving the party a bit early.
The best bit? You can WOOP as many wishes as you have! So get setting your Implementation Intentions now and change your habits for the better!
Further information on the WOOP technique can be found at www.woopmylife.org and there is also an app so you can WOOP on the go!
Comments