Does fantasizing about the future help us achieve it?

Apparently not, according to researchers who claim that positive fantasies about the future actually backfire because they reduce our energy to pursue them.  The research substantiates recent findings that visualizing positive outcomes – for years thought to lead to positive outcomes – diminishes the chances of reaching one’s goal.  This new study explains why: it reduces our energy to achieve them. 

They “make energy seem unnecessary,” according to study authors Heather Kappes and Gabriele Oettingen, who were quoted in Research Digest, a blog from The British Psychological Society.  Kappes and Oettingen explain that “by allowing people to consummate a desired future,” energy is diminished in that, according to BPS: “positive fantasies trigger the relaxation that would normally accompany actual achievement, rather than marshaling the energy needed to obtain it.”  The researchers demonstrated this process, across four studies. 

They concluded: "Instead of promoting achievement, positive fantasies will sap job-seekers of the energy to pound the pavement, and drain the lovelorn of the energy to approach the one they like." The authors further explained: "Fantasies that are less positive - that question whether an ideal future can be achieved, and that depict obstacles, problems and setbacks - should be more beneficial for mustering the energy needed to obtain success."

The question remains, is there any benefit whatsoever to positive fantasies.  The BPS blog entry suggests: “From a survival perspective, if a goal, such as food or water, is unobtainable, there could be some advantage to enjoying a fantasy that switches you into a low-energy mode. Similarly, if a task fills you with dread and your short-term goal is relaxation, then indulging in positive fantasies about desired outcomes could be a way to reduce anxiety.”