If-then plans helped less when the habit was strong

An if-then plan names a moment and an action. If this happens, then I will do that instead of the usual thing.

In the first experiment, people built up a habit in a task. Then the task changed, and the old habit got in the way.

An if-then plan cut down the harm the old habit did to their work on the task. But it helped less when the habit was strong.

The second experiment tested the same idea in daily life, with smoking as the habit.

Plans cut the habit for people whose habit was weak or moderate. They did not cut it for people whose habit was strong.

The paper sums it up this way. How strong a habit is changes how well an if-then plan works against it.

There were two experiments, one in a lab and one in daily life. They pointed the same way.

The abstract does not give the number of people, so we do not print one. It also does not say how long people were followed.

The Disappearing Pattern is the pull to leave when someone gets close. You may have gone quiet on people the same way for years.

This paper suggests a plan on its own does less against a habit that strong. That is worth knowing before you start.

Your plan still has a job. Intercept means you interrupt the usual response and choose a different action before the old pattern completes.

Then comes Rewrite, the third move: repeat the different action until it becomes easier to reach when the signal returns.

Your plan might read: if I leave a message unanswered, then I send one line back. Use it every time, not once.

This study did not test The Archivist Method. It tested if-then plans on a lab task and on one daily habit.

It does not say a strong habit cannot change. It found that a plan alone did less against one.