If-then plans

You know the moment well. A reply is slow and your chest tightens. You start typing sorry before anything has gone wrong. Someone praises your work and the no, it was nothing, is already out.

An if-then plan is written for exactly that moment. If I start typing sorry, I delete it and write thanks. If my chest tightens while I wait, I put the phone down. If they praise the work, I say thank you and stop.

Short is better. The plan has to fit inside a few seconds, because that is all the room you will have.

Implementation intentions is the research name for if-then plans. It is the term you will find in papers. It means the same thing: a plan that ties one action to one moment.

This site's Research Library reads several of those papers. In lab experiments, a plan took away the old habit's head start. Without one, the habit came to mind first. With one, that head start was gone.

The new option did not become automatic right away, though. The plan gave people more room to choose. They still had to want the other goal. In another set of lab studies, a goal not to feel fear did less than that goal plus an if-then plan.

Mental contrasting is the research name for setting the future you want against what really stands in the way. Picturing the good outcome is the first half. Naming the obstacle is the second.

One small trial read in the Research Library put the two together with children at one school. They named the obstacle, then made if-then plans to get past it. Their grades, attendance and conduct improved compared with a group taught positive thinking.

An if-then plan is not a promise to be different. A promise covers the future in general. A plan covers one moment you can name.

It is also not enough on its own against a strong habit. One paper found plans helped break weaker habits and did less when the habit was strong. A pattern that has run for years is usually strong. So the plan has to be used every time, not once.

None of these studies tested this method. They tested plans on lab tasks, on feelings shown on slides, on smoking and on school goals.

Write your plan around the body signal. That is the physical feeling that comes first, such as a tight chest, a closing throat or heat in the face. Make that feeling the if.

When the moment comes, notice the feeling and name what is starting. Say your one short sentence out loud. Then take the different action instead of the usual response.

Count it as one rep, one repetition of the plan in a real moment. If you miss it and only notice afterward, say the sentence then. That still counts, and it makes the next moment easier to see.