
Stop Visualizing Success If You Want To Succeed: inside the new science of motivation.
From Change Wired by Angela Shurina
June 11, 2026 · 20 min · Season 2026
About this episode
Angela Shurina discusses the counterintuitive findings from motivation research regarding the effects of visualizing success on achieving goals.
Pure positive thinking sounds harmless, but what if it’s the reason you keep failing on the goals you care about most? I’m Angela Shurina, and I’m unpacking a counterintuitive finding from motivation research: when we only fantasize about future success, our bodies can relax as if the win already happened, which makes needed effort less likely. We dig into Gabrielle Oettingen’s work on the science of motivation and the practical technique called mental contrasting. You’ll learn how to visua...
People in this episode
Host: Angela Shurina
Topics covered
- motivation
- success
- mental contrasting
- positive thinking
- goal setting
Keywords
- motivation
- success
- mental contrasting
- positive thinking
- goal achievement
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