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Alt views: Surprising power of just giving up + Backup plan may be why you failed

#1
C C Offline
The Surprising Power of Just Giving Up
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evo...ust-giving

EXCERPT: This post closely complements my last one—namely, “You Only Get More of What You Resist—Why?”. Ironically, though, it goes off in a totally different direction. Whereas my earlier article warned of problems inextricably linked to fighting what is, this follow-up piece explains how, in certain situations, the best way to triumph over difficulties is, curiously, to surrender to them. And whereas my earlier thesis was that you can make bad matters worse by focusing on them, this post stresses that turning your back on them can sometimes make them better—or disappear them entirely. Offering an academic/empirical paradigm here may make my contentions, at least initially, seem even less rational. But let me describe the basic concept of “learned helplessness,” so-named on the basis of a famous research experiment by Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania (1967). Without going into the fairly intricate (and frankly, unpleasant) details of this experiment—or rather, series of experiments—I’ll briefly summarize its key findings....



Having a backup plan might be the very reason you failed
https://aeon.co/ideas/having-a-backup-pl...you-failed

EXCERPT: [...] Over the past few years, I’ve worked with Alexandra Freund, a professor of psychology at the University of Zurich, to unpack how a backup plan (or Plan B) affects the way we pursue our goals. Our core thesis is that backup plans change the way people pursue their goals, even if they never use the backup plan at all. In other words, backup plans are not inert: as they sit in your ‘back pocket’, they influence the way you use your Plan A. This effect can be positive. A backup plan can boost confidence to tackle challenging goals. But backup plans can also subvert pursuit of your goals. Developing them costs resources that could have been spent perfecting Plan A. Choosing when and if to use a backup plan can distract you. It can provide an easy, but perhaps untimely ‘out’ during tough times. A backup plan could, perversely, cause you to fail.

But how can a backup plan, your buffer against failure, cause failure? Imagine being on the job market. Cash is tight: your goal is a new job this month. Plan A is to work for a tech firm. You know getting hired there is a challenge, so you’ve made a backup plan: a banking position. Does your banking backup plan help or harm your chances of getting a job this month? To understand the impact, it’s important to realise that not all backup plans are the same....
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#2
elte Offline
Also, after just giving up, sometimes problems just get resolved by some other means.

In the other story, it mentions how a backup plan builds confidence.  I look at another aspect, being that having a backup plan lessens fear and apprehension, thereby increasing relaxation and lowering stress, whereby creativity has time and opportunity to flow.
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#3
Magical Realist Online
My own learned strategy for dealing with problems lies in conceiving in my mind my state after the problem is solved. So much of focusing on an issue, say like my impending dentist apointment, involves replaying one's own stress in being in that situation and making of it more than it actually might be. I focus on the relief right after the experience. The sense of gotten something good done and of moving on to a less dread-filled future. There is no problem to be solved in essence, and it will disappear at the rate of 60 seconds a minute just as everything else does.
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