Setting a goal alone doesn’t guarantee results. Many of us set New Year’s resolutions yearly but hardly achieve anything. ‘I want to eat healthy.’, ‘I want to exercise more.’, ’ I want to read more.’ The list repeats itself year after year. Goals don’t automatically translate themselves into actions or motivate people enough to carry out the plans long enough to achieve their goals fully.
To help achieve goals, we need to set implementation intentions. For example, ‘I want to read more’ becomes ‘If I get up at 6 am, I’ll read book X for one hour’. Research proves that implementation intentions can significantly increase the chance of attaining goals.
There are a few reasons why Implementation Intentions work. First, the action becomes automatic once the link between the condition and the action is formed. This automatic response will, in turn, strengthen the trigger. It’s like brushing your teeth after waking up - you hardly need to think about it. The easier the condition can be met, the better our chance of performing the action. Secondly, it reduces ambiguity and the cognitive load in decision-making - the only thing to do when you wake up at 6 a.m. is to read for one hour. Thirdly, it helps us form the habits needed to achieve long-term goals, especially those we forget when busy with emergencies - such as taking vitamins or regular short breaks. It simply becomes ‘I’ll take my vitamins after I read book X for one hour followed by a 5-minute break in the garden’.