Life often gets in the way of meeting our goals. Conflicting priorities, busy work lives or home lives, illness or any other number of reasons can give us cause to give up on whatever we are aiming for.

However, a tool that you can use from your life toolbox is to have some ‘if-then plans’ up your sleeve to help you keep on track or get back into the groove. Research has shown that the best way to achieve a goal is to have a plan and this plan should include specific pre-thought through plans for how you will overcome obstacles. You have probably already used the process at some point in your life but may not have given it a name.

A simple ‘if-then’ plan can eliminate the choices you have to make, encourage you to stop and think about the obstacles you might face in reaching your goal and helps to make your desired behaviour automatic. Deciding in advance where and when you will take specific actions can increase your chances for success.

If-Then Plans

If X happens, then I will do Y.

X can be a time and place, like Wednesday at 11.30am, or it can be an event, like the arrival of the dessert menu at a restaurant. Y is the specific action you will take when X occurs.

In psychology speak If-Then Plans are known as ‘Implementation Intentions’ and they can greatly increase your chances of change and meeting your goals. They are effective because they are written into our brains as the language of contingencies. We humans are great at encoding, storing and remembering information. Once you have created your if-then plan your brain (sometimes unconsciously) will search for the ‘if’ situation and as you have already thought about exactly what you need to do you can execute the plan without having to consciously think about it. Implementation intentions work by instead of focusing on the goal itself, you shift your focus to the specific actions that will lead you to meet that goal, and you pair those actions with recognisable cues that remind you to take that action. If–Then Plans can change the process of meeting a goal from one that requires constant mental vigilance to one that’s nearly automatic.

Whatever goal you are aiming for - to change career, save more money, lose weight, spend more time with loved ones – think about where the bumps and obstacles in your journey might be. Then ask yourself ‘if this happens, then what will I do instead’? Pre-plan what those bumps might be and do some ‘if-then’ planning.

These pre-thought through plans work by making it easier for you to keep on track or get back on track and will increase your chances of achieving your goal. They provide you with a no-brainer, easy to implement way to keep or get back on track.

For any behaviour to occur you need 3 elements to be in place:

1. Capability

2. Opportunity

3. Motivation

Capability is about having the right physical skills and/or the right knowledge and information about how to perform the behaviour. For example, how to cook healthy meals, how to use the equipment at the gym, how to spend money within a budget.

Opportunity is about having the right resources to be able to change. For example, time, money and space. It is also about having the right social opportunity, usually having the right people around you to help you change. For example, supportive people and others who share similar goals.

Motivation is about being more highly motivated to do the behaviour at the relevant time than not to do the behaviour, or to engage in a competing behaviour. For example, to be more motivated to save money than to spend money.

I like to think of this as being a 3-legged stool (like one of those camping or fishing stools) and if any leg of the stool is weak then that is where you focus your action for change.

If-Then Plans strengthen the Opportunity leg of the stool by strengthening the behaviour and habit. They make it more likely that you will do what you planned to do. They are a gentler type of ‘rule’ that we can put in place to give us pre-planned, automatic ways to respond to the bumps on our journey to change.

Think about the potential obstacles and scenarios that might stop you achieving your goal and then plan what you will do when that specific scenario happens.

For example,

If I can’t make it to bootcamp on Monday then I will go on Friday.
If I am away on business then I will do a ‘hotel room workout’ before I eat dinner.
If I can’t save my usual £100 this month then I will save £150 next month.
If I go shopping for clothes then I will stick to a budget.

Tips for creating if-then plans

Focus on one behaviour at a time.
Set a specific goal.
Identify the single action (the “Then”) that you’ll focus on to meet your goal.
Identify a specific cue for the action (the “If”). What will remind you to take your action? This needs to be easy to identify.
Rehearse your plan. The idea behind if-then plans is that when the critical moment arrives and your If presents itself, you just take your action without thinking about it. For that to happen, you must hardwire your If–Then Plans into your brain. Write it down and then take a few seconds to reread it once or twice a week.

Best wishes

Behaviour Works aim is simple. To help make change happen in your personal, family or working life. Every week we help people across the world with their own change journey with our ‘Making Change Happen’ online training. Check us out at Behaviour Works.

Toolbox photo by Susan Holt Simpson on Unsplash

Roadblock Photo by Tim Collins on Unsplash