I finally signed up for a twitter account, which allows me to follow some musicians, comedians, and psychology groups. Psychology Today is one group I’ve been following. It is a magazine focused on psychological topics, and I recent read an article entitled “How and Why You Daydream.” The article explores the details and research attached to daydreaming. For example, the article states, “For men, the more frequent their daydreams, the lower their life satisfaction. For women, vividness but not frequency was related to lower life satisfaction. For both genders, people who daydreamed about their close family and friends reported higher levels of life satisfaction."
As a psychologist who often works with people trying to improve performance, the article spurred some thought. In my practice I encourage athletes to:
1. Learn from mistakes, but not dwell on them. Dwelling on mistakes lowers motivation, confidence, and overall performance.
2. Dwell on successes. This increases motivation, confidence, performance, and enjoyment.
The article caused me to realize how we process, relive, and think about performance is similar to daydreaming. Athletes, artists, and business professionals spend a lot of time reliving past experiences or envisions future tasks. This is equivalent to daydreaming and it has a tremendous impact on motivation, confidence, performance, and enjoyment.
The next time you get lost in thought, whether it is during a meeting, lecture, game, on the beach, or before you fall asleep, take a moment and try to determine what purpose the daydreaming serves.
1. Does it allow simply let you to escape boredom or is there more to it?
2. Do you think that daydreaming about the worst case scenario better prepare you for the future?
3. Do your fantasies make you feel great by providing an opportunity to relive those great moments in life like scoring the game winning goal in a championship, presenting the perfect defense in a court of law, or that breath taking musical performance in front of a large crowd?
4. Is it a combination of reasons?
As a psychologist who often works with people trying to improve performance, the article spurred some thought. In my practice I encourage athletes to:
1. Learn from mistakes, but not dwell on them. Dwelling on mistakes lowers motivation, confidence, and overall performance.
2. Dwell on successes. This increases motivation, confidence, performance, and enjoyment.
The article caused me to realize how we process, relive, and think about performance is similar to daydreaming. Athletes, artists, and business professionals spend a lot of time reliving past experiences or envisions future tasks. This is equivalent to daydreaming and it has a tremendous impact on motivation, confidence, performance, and enjoyment.
The next time you get lost in thought, whether it is during a meeting, lecture, game, on the beach, or before you fall asleep, take a moment and try to determine what purpose the daydreaming serves.
1. Does it allow simply let you to escape boredom or is there more to it?
2. Do you think that daydreaming about the worst case scenario better prepare you for the future?
3. Do your fantasies make you feel great by providing an opportunity to relive those great moments in life like scoring the game winning goal in a championship, presenting the perfect defense in a court of law, or that breath taking musical performance in front of a large crowd?
4. Is it a combination of reasons?
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