WOOP

WOOP is a goal method that unites a wish with realism. Its acronym stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, and Plan. In her years of research, psychologist Gabriele Oettingen showed that purely positive fantasy often reduces action; the desired outcome turns into movement when it is thought through together with the inner obstacle before it. This method, called "mental contrasting," binds the fantasy to a conditional plan. Dreaming is not enough; one must see the obstacle by its name.