If-then plans: deciding in advance is most of the work
An implementation intention is a plan in the form: if situation X happens, then I will do Y. Deciding the exact moment and place in advance, rather than relying on intention alone, had a medium to large effect on goal attainment across 94 independent tests. It is the cheapest reliable technique in this whole area.
What is an implementation intention?
It is a plan that names the trigger, not just the aim. The format is: if X, then I will Y.
Compare two sentences. I will meditate more. Versus: if I finish my morning coffee, then I will meditate for ten minutes at the kitchen table. Same intention, completely different odds.
The difference is that the second one has already made the decisions. When the moment arrives you are not choosing, you are executing, and choosing is the expensive part.
How well does it work?
Well enough that it is one of the most reliable findings in goal research. A meta-analysis by Gollwitzer and Sheeran pooled 94 independent tests and found a medium to large effect on goal attainment, d = .65.
That is a large effect for something that costs one sentence and no ongoing effort.
It is worth saying what it does not do. It helps you act on a goal you already hold. It does not create motivation you did not have, and it will not rescue a goal you do not actually want. Writing the goal well is a separate job, and that is what SMART is for.
How to write one
Name a concrete cue, then one concrete action, in one sentence.
Pick a cue that already happens reliably
After breakfast. When I get home. When my alarm goes at 7. Anchor to an existing event rather than to a time you hope to be free.
Name the place
At the kitchen table. In the spare room. Vague locations become no location, which becomes not doing it.
Make the action a single specific thing
Ten minutes, one page, 2 km. Not do some work.
Write it as one if-then sentence
If I finish dinner, then I will read 25 pages on the sofa. Say it out loud once. That is the whole intervention.
Add a second plan for the obstacle
If it is raining, then I will run on the treadmill instead. The most common failure is a foreseeable obstacle with no plan attached.
If-then examples
The shape is always cue, place, single action.
- If I sit down at my desk in the morning, then I will write for 25 minutes before opening email.
- If I finish lunch at work, then I will walk once around the block.
- If it is Sunday evening, then I will log the week's spending at the kitchen table.
- If I feel like skipping the gym, then I will go and do only ten minutes.
- If I miss a day, then I will log it as zero and carry on rather than starting over.
Why it pairs well with tracking
The if-then plan gets you to act. Tracking tells you whether the plan is working. They fix different halves of the same problem.
A plan with no record leaves you guessing about whether you actually kept it, and people guess generously. A record with no plan tells you accurately that you are not doing the thing, without helping.
Together they are close to the whole practical toolkit: decide the trigger in advance, log what happened, look at the total weekly. The research on tracking covers the second half, and the chain method is one way to make the record visible.
Frequently asked questions
- What is an implementation intention?
- A plan in the form if situation X occurs, then I will do Y. It commits you to a specific cue, place and action in advance instead of leaving the decision to the moment.
- How effective are if-then plans?
- A meta-analysis of 94 independent tests found a medium to large effect on goal attainment, d = .65. That is a substantial result for a technique that takes one sentence.
- What makes a bad if-then plan?
- A vague cue or a vague action. Sometime this week and do some exercise are not a plan. The cue must be an event that reliably happens and the action must be one specific thing.
- Do I need one for every goal?
- One per recurring action is plenty. If a goal has a daily action behind it, that action is what deserves the plan.