How to Actually Do What You Say You Will

 

Train on Forest Bridge | Genine Alyssa Pendrano-Andrada | Pexels

Every morning I write an article. To be more specific, I have a routine. Every morning, I wake up, let the dogs outside, make a cup of coffee, let the dogs inside, head to my office and then write an article. The only time I might vary from that routine is if I'm on vacation or have a very early appointment that might interfere with my normal routine. Otherwise that's what happens Monday through Friday for me.

I learned a while ago that it is important to have a routine if you want to be able to consistently do things. X happens, then Y then Z. For example, I read everyday in the afternoon. During the first open 30 minutes on my calendar, after lunch, I grab my book and my iPad and sit down to read a chapter. After I read the chapter I open notes and hand write notes in Apple Notes with my Apple Pencil. I also draw at least one diagram to help me visualize what I just learned. To help reinforce this, I leave my iPad with my book on top of it, on my kitchen counter. This ensures I see it when I walk to the kitchen to put my plate in the dishwasher after lunch.

By having visual cues and a specific routine, I have greatly increased the likelihood that I will take time to write an article each morning and to expand my own knowledge through reading. If I said, I'm going to write articles every day, or I'm going to read more without being specific, its very likely that I would have days where I skipped writing or days when I read nothing at all. Because I have cues and routines I am reminded of when and where I need to do something and feel compelled to complete it. Plus, I know how satisfied I will feel after completing the task and that gives me an extra push.

This has been studied by science and earned its own name in 1999. Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer completed studies around the probability of goal attainment by, in advance, determining specific behavior in response to a specific future event or cue. The concept was named implementation intention. Implementation Intention is the strategy of "If-then" that leads to better goal attainment as well as habit formation. In computer programming we use If-then statements to tell the computer if this specific thing happens then this other specific thing must be done. Through the studies completed by Dr. Gollwitzer it was determined that this also worked with people.

Think about your own intentions. They are most likely positive and you have every intention of doing them. Every new year, we come up with new goals and things that we plan to do, like go to the gym every day. And while we have good intentions when stating these goals, many of us fail to even get started and most of us fail to stay committed over the long term. The question was how do we set goals that will reliably lead to the desired behaviors and ultimately outcomes. 

When you form a plan based on "if-then" or time and location you are creating time based and location based cues to remind you to do something. You create an image in your mind to help you remember to do something. You might already do this with reminders on your phone. I'll use Siri to do this for me. "Hey Siri, remind me when I get home, to order more furnace filters." Now when I arrive home Siri will remind me. The funny thing is, that the act of saying that very specific thing outlaid often leads me to remember what I was going to do before I even see the reminder pop up. 

In the studies completed by others they found that you could more reliably get someone to go to the polls and vote during election when implementation intentions were used. David Nickerson and Todd Rodgers completed a study where they found that people were more likely to vote if they had an implementation intention. They contacted potential voters with a phone script and asked three questions. The questions asked, what time they would vote, where they would be going to the voting place from, and what they would be doing immediately prior to voting. The voters that were contacted in this method were 4% more likely to vote than those that did not receive a call.

We all know that we need to eat a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables. Another study looked at how it might be possible to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the diets of young adults. They asked participants to create "If-then" strategies as a way to remind them to eat more fruits and vegetables. Those that used this implementation intention strategy increased their fruit and vegetable intake by 50% per day. They compared this to participants who made less specific statements. They would "Try to eat more fruits and vegetables" for example. Those participants only consumed 31% more per day. That is a 20% win for the implantation strategy.

How can you use implantation intention?

Be very specific

What is the outcome you are trying to achieve? Is it to become more healthy? Be more specific than that. You are going to eat a healthier diet without eating snack cakes every afternoon and instead eat rice cakes? Think through the specific thing that you are going to do differently and identify the exact task that you will do. You could say "When I think about eating a snack cakes, I will eat a rice cake instead."

Find a time

List out your daily routine. What are the things that you do every single day without fail? For me that's, Wake up, Let the Dogs out, Make Coffee, let the dogs in, write an article, shower, work, have lunch, read a chapter, work some more, go for a walk, make and eat dinner, watch tv, go to bed. I know that I will complete those actions every day mon-fri almost without fail. If I want to be sure that I will complete an action over and over again, I should tie it to something I'm already doing. I mentioned I read every day, so I can say, "After lunch I will read one chapter in my book.". Once lunch is over I now know the time and place I will be reading and these locations and visual cues create strong reminders.

Write it down

When I read a chapter in my book, I stop and take notes afterwards. I do use my iPad, but I'm using an Apple Pencil so I have to take the time to think through my thoughts and manually write them out. Writing these chapter summaries allows me to more clearly distill my thoughts on the material I just consumed and more permanently etch it into my memory. By repeating it in my head and then writing it out, I drastically increase the likelihood that I will remember it. By writing down your intentions, you also ensure that you are being clear in your intentions and you also greatly increase the likelihood that you will both remember and do the things you said you would.

It's easy to make big plans and big goals. Everybody does it. Fewer, people follow through on what they said they would. Using Implantation Intention, you can be one of those people that consistently follows through. What do you think? Will you try this strategy out?  Tell me about it! Post below or contact me!