How to Go From Dreaming to Doing: 4 Steps to Motivation

You have stuff you know you should be doing. But it doesn’t get done. You need to go from dreaming to doing — but it’s hard.

You want to accomplish more at work, hit the gym, get a new job or study harder at school… but it’s not happening.

I’ve talked about strategies to make challenges easier like the 20 second rule. But what if you’re just not starting in the first place?

What gets you going when you’re not motivated to reach those longer term goals?

There’s a solution that can help you not only make change easier, but boost motivation. What’s the secret?

WOOP.

Yes, WOOP. It’s an acronym for 4 steps to achieving any goal based on research by Gabriele Oettingen:

1. Wish
2. Outcome
3. Obstacle
4. Plan

Can a method with the silliest name in social science really work? Yeah.

People who say they want to exercise…