Something to readGetting ahead
The motivational magic of if-then planning
A short excerpt from Heidi Grant Halvorson's book Nine Things Successful People Do Differently, on deciding in advance exactly when and where you'll act
Why it’s worth your time
Wanting to do something and doing it tend to come apart at the moment of action, when the day is busy and the chance slips past unnoticed. Heidi Grant Halvorson, who has run a study of the technique with Angela Duckworth and Peter Gollwitzer, explains if-then planning, deciding ahead of time exactly when and where you'll act, and why it can help you catch the moment. Her examples are about reports, chatty colleagues and the gym, so it reads closer to a desk than its home on an education site suggests.
How to make an if-then plan
The essay · 5 min · Free
How to get it
Opens their site. We don’t copy it here; we’d rather they get the read.
- Read the excerpt.
Edutopia introduces it, then hands over to her book. The practice section at the end walks you through two plans: one for the action and one for the obstacle most likely to get in the way.
- Write two if-then plans for this week.
Pick one task that keeps slipping and write: if it's [day and time, or the moment right after something you already do], then I will [first action]. Then name what usually derails it and write a second plan for that, such as: if someone stops by while I'm on it, then I'll offer to talk at the top of the hour.
Good moments for this: on Friday afternoon, for next weekwhen a task keeps slippingat the start of a new project
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Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
If a 4 p.m. slot tends to fill with meetings, pick a cue you control, like right after your first coffee or right after a daily check-in with your team.
What might make this harder
Write the if around events in place of times: when I finish a call, when I get back from lunch, when the standup ends. Short actions fit those gaps better than big ones.
Questions people ask
What is if-then planning?
Deciding in advance when and where you'll take a specific action, written in the form: if this situation comes up, then I'll take this action. In the research literature these plans are called implementation intentions.
Does if-then planning work?
The research is large and mostly supportive. Halvorson cites well over a hundred studies, and a 2024 review by Sheeran, Listrom and Gollwitzer covering 642 tests found benefits for thoughts, feelings and behavior, with effects from modest to fairly large.
What are examples of if-then plans at work?
One of her examples moves an unwritten report to the first thing after lunch; another limits chats with colleagues. Others you might write: if it's 9 a.m. Monday, I'll list my three priorities; if a meeting runs over, I'll send my update in writing.
Why do if-then plans help?
Halvorson's explanation is that the if part makes the moment easier to notice and the then part runs with less deliberation. A 2006 review by Gollwitzer and Sheeran reported support for both of those processes.
What it says, and how it holds up
This is an excerpt from Nine Things Successful People Do Differently, Heidi Grant Halvorson's short e-book, introduced by Edutopia for its education audience. It takes one of the nine, seizing the moment to act on your goals, and widens it into a practical case for if-then plans. She doesn't promise more hours, only that it will feel as if you had them, but she is bold about the method itself: she says if-then plans can double or triple your chances of success.
The research behind the technique, known as implementation intentions, is large; the two big reviews cited here are both co-authored by Peter Gollwitzer, who introduced the idea. A 2006 analysis of 94 tests by Gollwitzer and Sheeran reported a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals, and a 2024 review of 642 tests found effects from modest to fairly large, bigger when people were highly motivated and when plans used the if-then form. Both describe the benefit in more measured terms than the excerpt's double-or-triple line. The single-study figures in the excerpt, such as 91 percent of planners still exercising weeks later against 39 percent of non-planners, come from individual studies, so treat them as illustrations. The reviews point to a real benefit, and how big it is for you may depend on how much you want the goal and how you word the plan.
At work, if-then plans tend to suit tasks you already intend to do and keep losing to the day: the report, the follow-up email, the hour of focused work. They suit decisions you're avoiding less well. If the task keeps slipping because you're unsure it's worth doing, or because you'd rather not have the conversation it leads to, a plan may only put the avoidance on a schedule. The question to settle first is whether the task should happen at all, and who else gets a say in that.
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Picked by Truest and described in our own words. The original belongs to its creator. Last updated October 9, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.