Precall

When your mood is low and you need motivation, do you think about the future or the past?

I know many people often call up a treasured memory or happy moment to think about, waxing nostalgic to improve their mood. That never worked for me – I have plenty of happy memories, but they never did anything to improve my mood if my current situation was stressful. Instead, I always focused on a specific point in the future: the moment when the stressful situation would be over.

I’d project my thinking to that moment, absorbing the feeling of relief and determining when it would be. Like a happy memory in reverse. It always gave me a sense of focus that would help me get through what I was dealing with.

Give it a try.