Getting from Here to There: double think your way to success

Dissatisfied with your current situation?
Tired of ‘here’ and want to be ‘there’?
Try this: Dr. Gabriele Oettingen developed a technique called “double-think”, which is to think of an optimal future for yourself in some specific way (eg, eating less, earning more, etc.), the ‘there’; then picture where you are right now, the ‘here’.
Holding both images in your mind, come up with two reasons you would be better if you were in your “optimal” place, and two things holding you back.
This technique is powerful in ridding yourself of habits.

It’s also similar to the “Stockdale technique”, which was developed by Vietnam POWs in Vietnam. Stockdale noticed that the POWs who were the first to succumb to despair were those who were too optimistic and only pictured their homecoming. Those who pictured coming home but also pictured where they currently were and thus realized fully the difficulty of their situation were far more resilient, coped far better, and made it out at far higher rates.
That’s why mere hopeful —or wishful— thinking may not only be ineffective, it can be counterproductive.
The point is: there’s no substitute for genuine thought.