What are you looking forward to? It’s a simple question, but one that can have a surprisingly powerful impact on our wellbeing. We often think about wellbeing in terms of what we’re doing right now. Are we getting enough sleep? Are we exercising? Are we managing our stress levels? Are we taking time to recover? But there’s another important element to wellbeing that we sometimes overlook: the power of having something to look forward to. This is known as positive anticipation, and it can have a beneficial effect on our energy, mood and motivation.
In this week’s video, I want to share a simple way to bring more positive anticipation into your life, using an idea I call rocks and pebbles.
The science of looking forward to something
Have you ever noticed how good it feels to have a holiday booked, a dinner with friends in the diary or a special occasion coming up? Sometimes, the anticipation is almost as enjoyable as the event itself. There’s a psychological reason for this.
Positive anticipation is closely connected to something called positive prospection, our ability to imagine and look forward to enjoyable future experiences.
When we anticipate something rewarding, the brain’s reward system becomes involved, including dopamine signalling, which plays an important role in motivation and reward anticipation.
Looking forward to something positive can also help us manage stress by giving us something enjoyable to focus on beyond our immediate pressures.
There’s another related concept called future retrospection, which involves imagining yourself at a future point and looking back on events or decisions as though they’ve already happened. It’s often used in planning, decision-making and reflection.
For example, imagine yourself at the end of a really enjoyable weekend. What did you do? Who did you spend time with? What made it memorable?
By looking back from that imagined future, you can start to identify the experiences you’d like to create and the steps you could take to make them happen.
While positive anticipation is about enjoying the thought of what’s ahead, future retrospection can help us be more intentional about creating those positive experiences in the first place.
Of course, anticipation isn’t a cure for stress, and imagining the future can sometimes create anxiety rather than excitement. But deliberately making space for positive things to look forward to can be a useful tool for supporting our emotional wellbeing.
Rocks and pebbles: Big things and little things
I often talk about the importance of rocks and pebbles when it comes to wellbeing. The rocks are the big things. The pebbles are the smaller, everyday things. And I think this is a really useful way of thinking about positive anticipation, too.
The rocks: Big things to look forward to. These are the significant events or experiences that might be weeks or months away.
Perhaps it’s Christmas with your family, a summer holiday, a milestone birthday, a trip of a lifetime or an exciting personal goal you’re working towards. These bigger events can give us a wonderful sense of excitement and something positive on the horizon.
But there’s a potential problem with relying entirely on the rocks. If the next big thing is six months away, what happens in between?
That’s where the pebbles come in.
The pebbles: Small moments of positive anticipation. These are the little things that bring enjoyment to our everyday lives.
It might be:
- Meeting a friend for a coffee.
- Trying a new café that’s opened down the road.
- Looking forward to a weekend activity.
- Reading a good book in the evening.
- Taking the dog somewhere different for a walk.
- Having your favourite meal planned for Friday night.
None of these things needs to be particularly significant. In fact, that’s rather the point.
When we have lots of little things to look forward to, we’re creating regular opportunities for positive anticipation throughout the week. And those small moments can be just as important as the big occasions.
Don’t save all your enjoyment for the big events
One of the challenges of modern life is that we can become so focused on getting through the working week, reaching the next deadline or making it to our next holiday that we forget to enjoy what’s happening along the way.
We tell ourselves that things will be better when the project is finished, when we reach the weekend or when we finally get some time off. But what if we could build more enjoyment into the everyday?
What if, instead of waiting for the next big rock, we deliberately created more little pebbles?
This isn’t about filling every available moment with activities or adding more to an already busy diary. It’s about noticing the opportunities for enjoyment that are already there, and occasionally creating a few more.
Sometimes, simply having something small to look forward to can help change how we feel about the day ahead.
Positive anticipation and the Cadence Approach
This idea also connects with the Cadence Approach, my framework for managing energy and sustaining high performance through four phases: Predict, Prepare, Perform and Recover.
We often associate preparation with anticipating challenges, busy periods or demanding events. But we can also prepare for positive experiences.
We can make sure there are things in our diaries that give us energy, strengthen our connections and create opportunities to recover.
And positive anticipation can be especially useful during periods of pressure, when our attention naturally becomes focused on everything we need to get done. Having something enjoyable on the horizon gives us another place to direct our attention.
It’s a reminder that life isn’t just about managing demands. It’s also about creating moments that make us feel good. And, as I often say, everything is downstream of energy, mood and motivation.
What are your rocks and pebbles?
Here’s a little exercise I’d encourage you to try.
Think about the next few weeks and ask yourself three questions:
- What’s my next rock? What’s the big thing I’m really looking forward to?
- What are my pebbles? What smaller things am I excited about over the next few days?
- Could I add another pebble? Is there something simple I could arrange that would give me a little moment of positive anticipation?
You could even bring a little future retrospection into the exercise. Imagine looking back at the end of next week and thinking, “That was a really good week.” What would have made it feel that way? And what could you put in place now to help make it happen?
You don’t need a calendar full of exciting events. Just a few things that make you smile when you think about them. Because sometimes, it’s the little things that make the biggest difference.
And if we can create more of those moments, we’re giving ourselves more opportunities to support our energy, mood, motivation and overall wellbeing.
So, I’ll leave you with one question:
What are you looking forward to?
Don’t just think about the big things. Think about the little things, too. Those small pebbles of anticipation might be more powerful than you realise.
Help your people find more energy, motivation and moments to look forward to
Positive anticipation isn’t just good for our personal wellbeing. It’s also a reminder of how important it is to create positive experiences, connection and opportunities for recovery at work.
Through my Cadence keynote, I help leaders and teams understand what drives their energy, mood and motivation, with practical tools to build resilience and sustain high performance.
If you’re planning a leadership event, team conference or wellbeing initiative, get in touch to explore how we can help your people thrive, not just perform.
