The Magic of ‘If-Then’ Planning

15	Aug
	2013

Social Capitalist

Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D., a motivational psychologist and author, joined Tahl Raz for a Social Capitalist interview to discuss the science behind success. Here, Halvorson talks about her favorite technique for putting success on autopilot: programming your brain to respond with behaviors that move you closer to your goals.

Planning is an extraordinary tool. I’ve often joked to colleagues that if we could take every life-management book, every motivation book, every diet book on the market and just slide a little pamphlet in the back about how to do “if-then planning,” and use it with respect to whatever the course that’s recommended in the book, people would be extraordinarily more successful.

We find that when people say, “Ok, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:00 a.m., before I go to work, I’ll go to the gym for 45 minutes” – and then make that very simple plan in which they’ve decided exactly what action they’re going to take and where and when they’re going to take it – their chances for success go up from about two to 300 percent.

By taking the if (the situation you’re going to act on) and the then (the specific action you’re going to take) and connecting them, you link those two concepts together in your mind. This forms what psychologists call a contingency, an “if z, then y.” The wonderful thing about contingencies is that they’re basically the language of the brain.

Your brain likes to process information and store information in terms of contingencies: “If x happens, then I’ll do y.” An if-then plan is putting the plan in your brain’s natural language. You can take advantage of your unconscious mind’s processing power with if-then plans, and this doesn’t really happen with S.M.A.R.T. goals [a mnemonic framework for setting goals].

Our brains are incredibly active and have enormous processing capacity, but since most of our daily goal pursuit is happening on an unconscious level, we’re only conscious of the tiniest fraction of what’s really going on. Our brain is taking actions and doing things in order to reach goals, and we may not even be aware of it.

So the if-then plan is often acting on an unconscious level in your mind. If you say, “I will go to the gym 8:00 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,” your brain, without you realizing it, is scanning the environment for 8:00 on Monday to occur. It’s actively looking for it, and when that moment occurs, it says, “Bing, bing, bing! You’re supposed to go to the gym right now!” The thought, Oh, I’m supposed to go to the gym will pop into your mind. By putting the information into this kind of language, you’re getting to take advantage of more of your processing power and more of your potential.

Try framing your desired behaviors in this if-then format – you might just be programmed for success. Give it a try!

To read the full transcript of Heidi’s Social Capitalist interview, click here. To listen to this and other Social Capitalist podcasts, download them at iTunes.