The key insight is that after envisioning success, the crucial next step is planning. Planning involves articulating the desired future actions and sequencing the steps to achieve the goal. This phase is often overlooked when people only focus on positively fantasizing about their future. Without effective planning, positive visualization alone can lead to a sense of completion without taking necessary actions towards the goal.
Is there any scientific basis for the law of attraction? Are people who believe in “cosmic collaboration” more successful? And what happens when you write yourself a check for $10 million?
- RESOURCES:
- "'The Secret' to Success? The Psychology of Belief in Manifestation," by Lucas J. Dixon, Matthew J. Hornsey, and Nicole Hartley (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2023).
- "Making Dreams Come True: Inside the New Age World of Manifesting," by Stuart McGurk (The Guardian, 2022).
- "TikTok's ‘Manifesting’ Craze, Explained," by Stuart McGurk (GQ, 2021).
- "From Feeling Good to Doing Good," by Gabriele Oettingen and Peter M. Gollwitzer (The Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology, 2019).
- "Self-Regulation of Time Management: Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions," by Gabriele Oettingen, Heather Barry Kappes, Katie B. Guttenberg, and Peter M. Gollwitzer (European Journal of Social Psychology, 2015).
- "Olympians Use Imagery as Mental Training," by Christopher Clarey (The New York Times, 2014).
- “Self-Fulfilling Prophecy,” by R. Rosenthal (Encyclopedia of Human Behavior - Second Edition, 2012).
- The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne (2006).
- The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace Wattles (1910)