Positive thinking? It's not enough to reach your goals

USA Today reports:

"Dream it. Wish it. Do it" is a popular T-shirt slogan. It is not a very good way to change your life – as countless people who made New Year's resolutions to lose weight, start exercising or improve work habits are learning right about now.

Positive thinking has its merits, but it has been seriously oversold as a way to achieve goals, a growing body of research shows. If you want to change, you might want to confront your dreams with some hard, cold, even negative reality, studies show.

"It's so pleasant to believe that positive fantasies will work," says Gabriele Oettingen, a professor of psychology at New York University. "But it's too good to be true."

Just a reminder.