What stops us from doing the things that we have made concrete committed plans for? The psychologist, Gabriele Oettingen, claims one of the reasons is that we imagine ourselves doing the task and this gives us a false sense of complacency like we have already achieved our goal.

I could immediately apply this insight to one of the chores I had been putting off for a long time. Everyday I would resolve to get to it at a particular time of day and then imagine myself doing it for those couple of hours. But it never came to fruition.

Picturing the finish line is not a bad thing in itself. It can be a powerful motivator to start on the task. But according to Gabriele, where we err is when we stop with just the visualisation. She proposes a strategy, WOOP – Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan – which guides us to take a few additional steps after that.

• Wish: State what you want to accomplish
• Outcome: Describe the outcome of the task
• Obstacle: What is the obstacle in me that is preventing me from accomplishing it?
• Plan: Frame a plan to overcome or work around that obstacle and achieve the goal

Following this strategy, after imagining the outcome, we go on to acknowledge personal obstacles and design a plan. Needless to say, I was able to successfully adopt this framework to complete the chores I had been putting off.

It always amazes me how much difference a little conscious change in our mental process can make.