Wizard of OZ may Grant Your Wish – or at least Improve Your Outcomes

Do you remember when Dorothy and Toto are held captive by the WW West, while Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion are infiltrating the palace guards? I loved to sing along with all the OZ songs, but never understood the garbled lyrics the guards were chanting. I just kind of mumbled during that scene, using the tune and intoning something like “O~~~B~~~O~~~~ / B~~ O~~~~O~~. “
[I am going to draw on that in a moment, so keep it in mind. Actually, if you start humming it now – right now…….♫ O~~~B~~~O~~~~ / B~~ O~~~~O~~~♫ bet it will stick in your head.]

Making Changes

Momentarily, I’ll explain how I use that little chant as a type of prompt when hoping to make a personal change of some sort. I realize that certain types of psychotherapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (which systematically addresses Thoughts – Emotions and Behaviors in a structured sequential environment) are far superior and vital for those with depression or crushing life matters. But not everyone can afford the time or money to approach every issue in that manner.

More to the point, I get bored of myself. My self-talk says enough already. I don’t want to hear any more of my ‘blah, blah, blah’ than I must. Don’t misunderstand me, my self-talk is not strictly negative, but nor is it always helpful. Like most folks, I have ups and downs. Further, I believe many of us suffer from the happiness trap, which I have addressed previously. We frequently seek happiness via unhelpful avenues and obliquely gain (in some strange way) by allowing our unconscious to sabotage our efforts. That sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s fairly well accepted. When we look closely we can be sadly surprised by why we often maintain certain traits. But when I try to consider a change, I also buy into the concept that ONLY small actions are effective (even if they must be numerous).

Unhappily, I have learned very few quotations in my life (English majors simply astonish me and that’s doubled for actor friends). Still, there is one quotation that I have repeated in more situations over the years than I can remember. Oddly enough, while I am not a brainy “geek,” it came out of a scientific research methodology book in post-graduate school. Admittedly, I don’t know if the premise is valid or not, but it sure seems so to me. It promotes action:

“It’s Easier to Act your Way into a New Way of Thinking,
Than to Think your Way into a New Way of Acting.”

— Attribution unknown

Ultimately, this seems another way of saying “just do it.” So, I often try. Doubtless, this is an appropriate time to heed the old advice “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Thus a short while back, I developed a little acronym to help me with small things I might wish to pursue changing.

The Wizard’s Help

Here is how the Wizard helps me. Okay, really it isn’t the Wizard himself (most likely, he relocated back to Kansas long ago). Instead, it’s those forbidding, marching-guards at the palace gate with the fuzzy hats and uniforms, each portraying a dark and brooding countenance. Remember my version of the song? In my mind I use it as a memory anchor.

O – Objective (I make this a very tiny task to work toward a bit bigger goal)
B – Behavior (the first specific action to obtain that small objective)
O – Outcome (result of the tiny step). Congratulate myself on success
or revise step to make sure I ‘win’ the next time.
—
B – Behavior (2^nd specific action of the same tiny sort)
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[Now realize, writing it out sounds way more complicated than O-B-O need be in your head.]

My Example of OBO 

Here is a simple, but actual, example from my life. I think it is vitally important not to sit at my desk too long during any one time frame. I am rather careful at avoiding the bad behavior, but wanted to do better. In passing, I confess that I can figure out several ‘rewards’ that I get from sabotaging myself with this goal. For instance, taking just a ‘few more minutes’ to finish up whatever job or email I’m trying to get done; unfortunately, this puts my To-Do list above my health. Or perhaps having ‘bragging rights’ about my long work hours. Being a workaholic is not a virtuous trait to brag about, but I realize it’s somehow internalized. All the same, I wanted to get up from my desk more frequently, no less than once/hour. Here was my O-B-O series:

O –keep better track of the time to move from desk
B – place a small timer on my desk
O – the timer was then sitting on my desk, thus I deserved praise for doing it.
—
B – set the timer
O – timer goes off, I move a bit sooner than usual. [Praise, as I stand and click off timer.]

You may laugh, while thinking my steps are “ridiculously small” but it makes me feel good that I did something. Since my objectives are this small, you may assume great progress. Yet, do I always continue what I started? No, I’m afraid I don’t. However, I now know it’s doable, and next time the steps are even easier. A positive cycle becomes more possible.

Act Your Way

We work from what we have. In my case, I had the timer, a desire to move more often and the idea that a little nudge of action would improve my attitude about it. There are myriad examples in our lives of such small activities which when completed may make us feel more accomplished.

The bottom line is that Acting your way is easier than Thinking your way. Related advice that I remind myself of, and now you, is that it is rather fun to make a game out of planning O-B-O steps that are as tiny as possible. When that first step is recognized as achieved (the more miniscule the better), it’s amazing that it can make me smile, or better yet laugh out-loud if the step is microscopic. More importantly, it can spur me onward.

The Wizard may not always grant my wish, but I’ll take the occasional improved aftermath. No matter our age, few of us are totally satisfied with our behavior. I guess there could be some unusually well-adjusted, self-satisfied person out there; it just isn’t me. Nevertheless, playing the game of a teeny-weeny action can lift our spirits, and better yet start a cycle of improved outcomes.

—

Picture credits: (Used to represent Land of Oz) Photo by ActionVance on Unsplash

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