You may be familiar with the idea that visualizing what you want can make it more likely that you’ll get it. What does the science say about this idea, and how can you apply it to achieving your goals?
The idea that we can think our way to success is an appealing one. Studies show that visualization can help—but we need to be cautious and precise about how we do it. Picturing success isn’t a magic charm; the most it can do is help motivate us to act. Some kinds of visualization can even make us less motivated.
A word to the wise
There’s an important difference between action-oriented visualization and fantasizing. Studies have found that people who fantasize a lot about their dream job—which you could call “visualizing” it—tend to submit fewer applications, get fewer job offers, and have a lower income than those who don’t. The reason is that these dreams can drain our motivation. A 2011 US study by psychologists Heather Kappes and Gabriele Oettingen found that participants who were encouraged to “mentally indulge in a desired future” were far less proactive than those who were told to consider the potential tasks and challenges they might meet along the way.
When we imagine that we have something we want, we trick our brains into feeling as though we already have it. This may be pleasant, but it doesn’t motivate us.
The right picture
If we want to use our thoughts to propel us toward a brighter future, we need to focus on the process, not the outcome. Mental images are, as British psychologists Martin Conway, Kevin Meares, and Sally Standart put it, a “language of goals,” and we need to send ourselves the right message. This means using our imaginations as a kind of simulator for our actions, focusing not on where we want to be, but on how we’ll get there.
A 2010 New Zealand study published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine defined two types of mental imaging. The first type—“outcome simulation,” or picturing the end result—was found to increase desire, but didn’t translate into action. The second type—“process simulation,” or picturing working toward the outcome—was more likely to produce “goal-directed behaviors.”
When we picture what we need to do to achieve a goal, we are mentally anticipating the potential challenges, which means we’ll be less daunted by them when they come along. If you can keep your focus on the right things, it may help you to take the right actions.
The planning fallacy
When we plan a project, we often underestimate the resources we will need to complete it—such as time and money. Picturing the work we’ll need to do along the way (known as “process simulation”), instead of imagining the end result, can help us be more realistic. In a 1998 study at the University of California, students performed better in exams when they had included process simulation in their preparations.
Fantasy versus simulation
When visualizing success, we need to see ourselves as problem-solvers rather than dreamers. Suppose, for example, you want to run a marathon to raise money for charity. The different thought processes shown below can have a very different impact on your motivation:
