[Business Psychology] There Was a Reason for Your Slump: The Law of Reversed Effort
Thank you for always reading my articles.
This is Biz Craft.
On Wednesdays, I cover articles themed around business (management, organization, human studies, etc.).
I handle these topics.
Although it is business-related, this time the content is slightly more focused on psychology.
That just goes to show how psychology and business are closely intertwined.
For those of you who feel that both your main job and your note writing have been going poorly lately.
If any of the following apply to you, reading this article might just give you the hint you need to break out of your slump.
✅ Those who feel like they are at a dead end
✅ Those who want to understand the mechanics of a slump
✅ Those who want to escape from a slump
1⃣ What is the Law of Reversed Effort?
The Law of Reversed Effort is a theory proposed by Émile Coué, the founder of the French method of autosuggestion.
This law states that when willpower and imagination (mental imagery) conflict, the power of imagination wins.
Here, "willpower" refers to the determination and effort a person exerts when trying to accomplish something.
On the other hand, "imagination" refers to the future outcome a person envisions in their mind.
In other words, "I must do this" shows that forcing yourself often leads to impatience and ultimately makes things worse.
This is because the feeling of "I have to do it" triggers a rebellion of the self-preservation instinct, leading to "I don't have to do it" as a contrary reaction.
Let's think of a concrete example to make this easier to understand.
A person is placed in front of two buttons, A and B, and given these instructions:
"You may press button A, but you must not press button B."
There is an experimental result showing that if you keep giving instructions like this, the person will gradually start pressing button B.
This is because the intense consciousness of "must not do" is at work, which instead manifests as the opposite action.
Now, let's apply this to work.
Imagine a situation where someone who is usually error-free at work starts making mistakes one after another.
This is because the strong consciousness of "I must not make a mistake" acts as a negative autosuggestion and works in a bad direction.
Once this happens, no matter how much you try to switch to a positive mindset, it remains strongly in your subconscious, so you cannot completely escape it.
Moreover, since we are human, it is impossible to completely erase memories.
So, what on earth should we do?
I have presented some concrete measures below.
2⃣ Concrete Measures
This is just a method I keep in mind, so I think it is best to take it as a reference.
1. Keep your distance from the subject for a certain period
This is simple, but I think it is the most effective method.
While your conscious will and subconscious are synchronized, it is better not to force yourself to try hard. This is because if you act while harboring
negative emotions underneath, those emotions will only grow stronger, making it harder to achieve results. Therefore, in such cases,
taking a break to reset your mood is the shortcut. Trying hard blindly is not the only virtue.
2. Only vaguely remember parts of your mistakes
If you have made a mistake, it is effective to remember it abstractly. In other words, instead of
remembering the details of the mistake, you should just grasp the result broadly.
This was okay. That was not okay. That is all there is to it. For example, if an article on note didn't get a good response, what is wrong here is
deeply investigating
where and how it went wrong. Instead, think that you just happened
to choose a theme that didn't resonate. By doing so, you will be freed from negative subconscious thoughts and find it easier to start the next article. To put it more simply, it is the image of
severing the before and after. Think logically that
this and that are separate issues. Changing the form of memory
like this is best.
3. Utilize self-suggestion methods
Self-suggestion is a method of influencing your consciousness and behavior by repeatedly telling yourself positive messages. I think this is also a method that makes sense from a
neuroscientific perspective. For example, try telling yourself things like
"I am doing well," "I am on the right track.". By doing so, your brain will automatically plant positive images
into your subconscious. By doing this, your will and subconscious synchronize
. Therefore, you will not go against your intended results and can return to your usual form.
3. Article Summary
Above, I introduced ways to escape a slump by applying business psychology.
But isn't this an incomplete method because you haven't analyzed the cause of failure?
I can almost hear the voices of readers saying that. But as emphasized in this article, analyzing the cause of defeat plants negative images in your subconscious.
When in a slump, what is essential is to analyze the reasons for success. This can be done for someone else's work or your own.
In any case, try to imagine a situation where work went well. This further reinforces the subconscious belief that you are
starting to succeed. If this leads to a positive turn in your efforts, there is no reason not to use it.
I encourage everyone to try this at least once.
The probability of a positive turn in your work or articles will increase.