Back to the on-screen lesson ·
Rewrite a goal as an if-then plan, stack a new action onto a routine you already do, and plan for the likely snag.
Paper packet. Every task here also exists on screen, where it is checked automatically; answers written on paper are not assessed by Nydus. When you are back at a device, enter your answers there.
You will tell a goal from an if-then plan, write plans with a situation you will meet and one action, and choose an anchor that happens often enough and in the right place.
You can now tie an action to a cue and turn a clock time into an event. This lesson gives the link between cue and action a fixed form, one sentence that starts with if, and shows how to hang new actions on routines you already do. The scenes are invented. The practice is optional, it sits alongside any care you receive, and it is not a test of memory.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Goal intention | A statement of what you want: I will pay on time. |
| If-then plan | A plan naming a situation and one action in it: if I get paid on the 28th, then I mail the rent. Researchers call it an implementation intention. |
| Anchor | A routine you already do reliably, used as the if of a new plan. |
| Habit stacking | Adding a new action right after an anchor: after I pour my coffee, I write today's appointment on the whiteboard. |
| Snag plan | A second if-then plan for the likely obstacle: if it rains, then I do it indoors. |
The aid is one written line, on the intention card or the fridge:
If [a situation I will meet], then I will [one action].
Three checks before you keep it. The if is a moment you could point to when it happens: parking at the market, the end of a meeting. The then is one action someone could watch you do: drop the books in the slot. And the action can be done right there, in that situation. Once it is written, picture the situation for a few seconds and see yourself doing the action in it.
A goal says what you want: I want to return the books on time. It is sincere, and it leaves open when and how. An if-then plan closes that gap: if I park at the Saturday market, then I drop the books in the library slot next door. Peter Gollwitzer (1999) called these plans implementation intentions.
The evidence is broad. Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006) pooled 94 independent tests with more than 8,000 participants. People who added if-then plans to their goals reached them more often than people with the goals alone, and the average effect was medium to large. The studies covered many kinds of goals, and some were about remembering to act. In one, older adults who wrote an if-then plan carried out an event-based task more often (Chasteen, Park and Schwarz, 2001). The plans are thought to work in two ways. The situation becomes easier to notice, and the action follows it with less deciding.
Two limits belong beside that. An average across studies is not a promise for any one person or task. And if-then plans did not stop the fast forgetting that happens when an intention must wait through a busy delay (Einstein and colleagues, 2003); lesson 6 deals with that case.
Another way: picture
A goal is a destination on a map. An if-then plan is a sign at a particular corner that says turn here. You still want the destination, but now the corner tells you what to do when you reach it.
Another way: steps
The strongest if is often something you already do every day without thinking: pouring coffee, parking at work, feeding the dog. Using one as an anchor is called habit stacking, a name made popular by James Clear (2018). B. J. Fogg teaches the same form as After I…, I will…. It is the if-then plan with a routine in the if place. It has not been tested as a separate method; it borrows its logic from the if-then evidence.
A good anchor passes four checks.
| Check | The question |
|---|---|
| Reliable | Do I really do it every time? |
| Often enough | Does it happen as often as the new action is needed? |
| Right place | Does it end where the new action can be done? |
| Clear end | Is there a moment when it is plainly finished? |
Keep the new action small at first. Wipe the counters stacks well; clean the kitchen does not.
Lally and colleagues (2010) asked 96 volunteers to repeat one new action every day in the same situation, such as after breakfast, for 12 weeks. For those whose data could be modeled, the time for the action to feel close to automatic ranged from 18 to 254 days, with a middle value of 66. Missing a single day did not undo the progress. So there is no magic 21 days. Expect weeks to months, keep the plan written down until then, and after a missed day simply restart at the next anchor.
California banned single-use plastic carry-out bags at large grocery stores in a law that voters upheld in November 2016 (Proposition 67). Stores must charge at least 10 cents for a paper bag. Many shoppers own reusable bags and still leave them at home, which is a prospective memory failure, not a lack of good intentions.
A fictional shopper writes two plans. First: if I turn off the car in the store parking lot, then I take the bags from the trunk. Turning off the car is a clear moment, and the trunk is a few steps away. Second, a stack that gets the bags back to the car: after I unpack the groceries, I hang the empty bags on the front door handle. Then a snag plan: if I walk to the store instead, then I take the bag off the door handle as I leave. At 10 cents a bag and three bags a week, forgetting costs about 15 dollars a year.
Writing a goal and calling it a plan. If I get a chance, I will get organized has neither half: a chance is not a situation, and get organized is not one action.
Choosing an anchor that does not repeat often enough. A weekly anchor cannot carry a job needed three times a week.
Giving up after a miss. One missed day is a gap in a tally, not the end of the plan.
Write the goal as it stands.
Goal: I want to call my sister more often.
Starting from the goal keeps the plan aimed at what matters.
Find a situation met each week where a call fits.
Sunday: the dinner dishes are done by about 7, and the evening is quiet.
The if must be a moment that happens and leaves time for the call.
Write the if-then line.
If I finish the Sunday dinner dishes, then I call my sister.
It names one situation and one action someone could watch.
Add a snag plan for the likely obstacle.
If she does not answer, then I text her a time for Monday.
A plan for the snag keeps a missed call from ending the plan.
Name the new action and how often it is needed.
Water the houseplants once a week.
The anchor has to happen at least that often.
List anchors and test them.
Saturday coffee on the porch: reliable, weekly, near the plants, clear end. Laundry: weekly, but in the basement.
The coffee passes all four checks; the laundry fails right place.
Write the stack.
After I finish my Saturday coffee, I fill the watering can and water the plants.
The watering can is by the porch door, so the action fits where the anchor ends.
Plan for the snag and keep a tally.
If I am away Saturday, then I water on Friday evening. Tally on the calendar: ✓ each Saturday.
The tally shows how often the stack fired while it is still new.
Name the new action.
Take the travel mug to work each morning.
Knowing the action tells you which anchor can carry it.
Find an anchor that ends where the mug is.
Anchor: rinsing the breakfast bowl at the sink; the mug dries in the rack beside it.
Rinsing happens every workday and leaves you next to the mug.
Write the stack.
A fictional goal: Nia wants to return her library books on time. Which sentence is an if-then plan?
A fictional stack: *after I start the dishwasher, I wipe the counters*. The dishwasher runs 6 days a week. Over 3 weeks, the counters are skipped on 2 days. Complete the tally.
Count the chances the anchor gives.
6 days × 3 weeks = c
The new action can happen only when the anchor does.
Take off the skipped days.
chances − 2 = d
The tally shows how often the stack fired, not how you felt about it.
Read the tally without treating a miss as failure.
Keep the stack; restart at the next dishwasher run.
Lally and colleagues (2010) found a single missed day did not undo the building of a habit.
Build four habit stacks. Match each anchor, a routine already done every day, to the new action that can be done where it ends.
| Write today's appointment on the fridge whiteboard | Refill the bathroom soap if it is low | Take my badge out of the glovebox | Top up his water bowl | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| After I pour my morning coffee | ||||
| After I brush my teeth at night | ||||
| After I park at work | ||||
| After I feed the dog in the evening |
Three fictional plans. For each, does the *if* name a situation that will really be met, and does the *then* name one action?
| Plan | If: a situation met? | Then: one action? |
|---|---|---|
| If I stop for gas on Friday, then I check the tire pressure | ||
| If I have free time, then I sort the photos | ||
| If I finish lunch, then I get organized |
A fictional fern needs watering on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Anchor A: *after I take out the recycling* (Mondays only). Anchor B: *after I get home from the Monday, Wednesday and Friday yoga class*. How many waterings a week does each anchor give, and how many does anchor A leave out?
Anchor A gives a a week. Anchor B gives b a week. Anchor A leaves out c.
Somewhere new: a fictional office job. Write an if-then plan for each situation by choosing the action that can be done right there.
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| I sit down at my desk | |
| the Friday team meeting ends | |
| I badge out at the garage gate |
Lesson test: one question per skill, one attempt each, no hints. Your answers are checked when you submit.
Three fictional sentences about the same job, mailing the rent check. Write whether each is a goal or an if-then plan.
| Sentence | Goal or if-then? |
|---|---|
| I want to stop paying late | |
| The rent should go out on time | |
| If I get my paycheck on the 28th, then I mail the rent check |
Write one if-then line for something you keep meaning to do, and one habit stack on a routine you never skip. Say from memory what the 2006 meta-analysis found, and what it did not promise. Next: putting the things you need where the cue is. This is optional practice alongside any care you receive, not treatment and not a test of memory. If anything about your memory is new or changing, tell your own clinicians. Stopping is always allowed: close the page, and the lesson reopens where you left it.
12. Your turn: a reusable coffee mug, step 3
After I rinse my breakfast bowl, I put the travel mug in my bag.
One anchor, one action, done in the same place.