And you are not alone. It's a problem we all have. Research says that it is actually only up to 50 % of our projects that we get to follow through to the door. And that even if it is something we really want.

But, you think, there are people who achieve things. People who lose weight. People who learn to play the guitar or who bake lots of bread. And yes, you are right. Because there is something that manages to follow their plans and goals to the door. But what is the difference? No, it's not willpower or motivation, research says it's something else entirely. And luckily for us, it's a method we can all use.

A new way of making habits

So I would recommend you read on if you also have something that you just can't finish or stick with. For this method, the researchers promise you can actually increase your chance of reaching your goal by as much as 300 %.

And it's not even a difficult method. This is called if-then planning.

In recent years, a lot of research has been done into if-then planning, and the results are, as I said, promising. One of those who has investigated the method is Heidi Grant. She is, among other things, Senior Scientist at the Neuroleadership Institute at Columbia University, and has described the method in the Harvard Business Review.

The method is basically about hacking the way you make habits. As Heidi Grant concludes by saying: if-then planning enables us to do more of what we want “… by fostering ownership and essentially reprogramming people to execute“.

This is how you "reprogram" yourself to execute

Yes, it's pretty simple. Follow these four steps:

1. Have a goal
2. Divide it into sub-goals
3. Consider activities, who, when and where
4. Make an if-then plan: If X happens, I will do Y

Below you can see a visual presentation of the method. Afterwards, we go through how you do it in practical terms.

As mentioned, the method consists of four steps:

1. You start on the left side of the model by setting the goal you want to achieve. (To set better/good goals you can, among other things, read this tool.)
2. Then think about which sub-goals you need to achieve in order for your overall goal to become a reality. There may be more than three, if relevant. Write these down.
3. The third step is to think about what specific and concrete action is needed to achieve each sub-goal. Remember to write down who will do what, when and where.
4. Finally, you make your if-then plans. Based on your already formulated activities, you make a specific if-then plan, e.g. "If it is 2pm on the first Friday of the month, I send my report to my boss.“

The way you formulate the if-then plan may seem strange and unnecessarily difficult. Eg.:

“If [time] then [action], [who] [where] “.

But the fact that it seems forced and artificial is actually a point in itself because it means you pay more attention to it. And also remember that the way you usually express yourself rarely works.

It can be a little difficult to imagine how you use the method in practice. In the following example, you can see how a team e.g. can use the method to improve their internal communication.

Do you insert yours instead Goal about losing 5 kg, the first subgoal could e.g. be

Sub-goals: Exercise every Sunday

Activity: Go for a walk in the woods every Sunday before breakfast

If-then plan: If it's Sunday morning, the first thing I do is put on my workout clothes and go for a run in the woods.

Download the it-then template here