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I'm sure you've experienced this
phenomenon before it was late in the
evening and something clicked in your
head
you might have had a breakdown or you
might have had an epiphany
either way you had this realization that
you needed to make some sort of a change
in your life suddenly you knew what you
needed to do and you even had the
motivation to do it you realized that
you should learn a new tangible skill
you became aware that you needed to
start exercising more often and you even
made the decision that you would stop
being late to appointments and that you
were going to complete projects on time
but since it was late and you had to go
to bed you told yourself you're going to
start this new journey tomorrow however
when you woke up the next morning you
didn't wake up as the new person you
felt like you were denied before you
woke up as the same old you with no
motivation to make the changes you plan
to make and in the following days and
weeks no additional exercise was done
there was no progress in your learning
and you still didn't get things done on
time you have again fallen back into
your set ways and fail to do what you
said you were going to do but don't
worry you're not alone in this
people set intentions and fail at them
all the time just look at New Year's
resolution is and I'm no exception here
I don't manage to do everything I tell
myself I'm going to do either but I have
found a way to substantially increase my
odds of following through on my desired
behavior instead of relying on
motivation which comes and goes I
started applying what psychologists call
implementation intentions back in 2002
the British Journal of health psychology
published an interesting research paper
in this study they took 248 participants
and randomly assigned them into three
different groups the first group was the
control group they were only asked to
track how often they exercised over the
next two weeks the second group was also
told to track their exercise but in
addition they were given a motivational
message along with pamphlets on heart
health and why exercise is beneficial
that was the motivated group the third
group was given the same motivational
message as the second group but they
were also told to do one
think differently and that was to write
down when where and how they were going
to exercise the results were quite
insightful in the first group 38 percent
of participants exercised at least once
per week in the second group 35% of them
exercised it appears that the provided
motivation basically had no effect on
their actions it was as if it washed off
as soon as they loved the research
facility but in the third group the
group that was asked to be specific
about when where and how they were going
to exercise 91 percent of participants
managed to workout over the two-week
period what the third group did
differently was they used implementation
intentions also known as if-then plan
normally when we have a goal we think
about it this way I want to achieve X
for example I want to exercise three
times per week the implementation
intention is just a small adjustment to
this it transforms into if situation Y
happens then I will do X so for example
if it's 5:00 p.m. on a Monday Wednesday
or Friday then I'll Drive to the gym and
workout for one hour the objective stays
exactly the same the goal is still to
exercise three times per week but notice
how it got a lot more practical and
that's the basic idea behind
implementation intentions it takes just
a few minutes to write down but it
increases your chances of doing what you
want to do exponentially and the reason
why it's so effective is because you
take out all the guesswork in advance
when we're not completely sure how to do
something or when to do it we tend to
lean towards the easier option which is
usually simply not to do it let's say
you come home from an exhausting day at
work but you promised yourself you were
going to exercise more now you have two
options go to the gym or watch some TV
shows since you didn't specify when you
were actually going to go to the gym you
tell yourself you're going to do it
tomorrow or some other time when it's
more convenient
therefore you go for the easier option
which is to watch TV the gym workout
gets kept here again and this sort of
rationalization is used to postpone
behaviors indefinitely
but when you commit in advance to when
how and where you're going to do it then
you start leaning towards the behavior
you committed to so if it's 5 p.m. on a
Monday then you're going to the gym
you're not left wondering if you should
exercise that day you've already
committed to it and if it's 7 p.m. on a
Tuesday
you're also not wondering if now is a
convenient time to go you've already
determined that you don't exercise at
the day and time this way of doing
things has been proven to be extremely
effective in over 100 different studies
so it's pretty conclusive if you want to
do something you should use
implementation intentions but what will
increase your chances even further is
incorporating coping plans coping plans
are a specific strategy follow whenever
you encounter an obstacle they act as if
Plan B they also follow almost the exact
same pattern and it looks like this if
obstacle Y occurs then I will do X to
overcome it this forces you to think
about the potential difficulties you'll
eventually have to face and when they do
occur you're ready for them let's go
back to our exercise example it's 5:00
p.m. on a Monday and your implementation
intention says you need to go to the gym
however your boss asked you to work
overtime until 6 p.m. today your
implementation intention has just
encountered an obstacle and you can't
follow through on it but because you
were smart and you anticipated potential
overtime in advance you already had a
plan B READY here's the to coping plans
you came up with for this exact
situation if I have to work till 6 p.m.
then I'll go to the gym at 6:30 p.m. but
if I have to work past 6:30 p.m. then
I'll go to the gym the next day again
you're not left wondering if you should
go to the gym if you should skip it
altogether or if you should go some
other day you've already figured it out
in advance so in this case you know that
day you're going to the gym at 6:30
simple and straightforward
just to show you how powerful coping
plans actually are let me introduce you
to another research paper participants
of this study were all patients with
heart problems
they were just finishing up the rehab
during which they were doing regular
physical exercise as part of the
treatment but after the rehab was over
the researchers decided to split the
participants into three groups each
group was given different instructions
on how to proceed with their exercise
this graph shows us how many minutes per
week participants from each group spent
cycling during the rehab note that these
numbers are from before they were
divided into three groups so during the
rehab all participants exercised for
roughly the same amount now this is what
their numbers look like two months after
they were given their instructions the
first group was the control group and
was just tracking their exercise after
rehab the second group was tracking
their exercise but they also used
implementation intentions the third
group used implementation intentions but
were also told to think about which
obstacles could interfere with their
exercise plan they had to come up with
an answer on how to successfully cope
and deal with such problems basically
they created coping plans this clearly
shows us that the mere motivation isn't
enough for us to take action
remember all participants were motivated
and had a compelling reason to exercise
they all wanted to be healthier due to
their problems but ultimately it was the
implementation intentions and coping
plans that made them follow through
sure motivation can make things easier
but if you always wait for motivation to
strike whenever you decide to do
something then you probably won't get as
much done there will be days when you're
tired your back hurts you're not in the
mood etc this kind of days are normal
and you shouldn't beat yourself up if
you can't push through however when you
don't do something you tell yourself
you're going to do you end up feeling
guilty and this guilt then ruins other
parts every day such as leisure time
let's say that you should be studying
for an exam but you're not in the mood
so you go watching Netflix series
instead what will probably end up
happening is you're not going to enjoy
watching it as much as you normally
would instead your conscience will begin
eating you up for not doing what you
should be doing so to avoid beating
yourself mentally simply do the thing
you said you were going to do just in a
smaller amount so for example your
coping plan might be if I'm not in the
mood to study then I'll only try to
learn one page or if I'm too tired to
study then I'll only read through the
notes I know that it might sound
pointless to even begin something if
you're not going to go all in but there
are two good reasons for why this is
effective firstly we overcome the
initial obstacle of starting it is much
harder to begin something then it is to
continue doing it I use this exact
tactic to practice my piano when I don't
feel like practicing I simply tell
myself I'm going to play one piece that
I already know and often it transitions
into full-on practice after all I'm
sitting at the piano and I'm already
playing it so it's easy to continue
secondly even if you only go through
your notes or only practice for five
minutes
you've still done more than you
otherwise would doing a little bit of
something is still better than doing
nothing and perhaps more importantly
you've followed your coping plan
successfully there is no guilt even if
you decide to watch a TV series
afterwards
in a perfect world we would all do what
we tell ourselves we're going to do but
sadly that's simply not how it is
however I hope you now have a better
idea on how to actually make it easier
for yourself to do the things you want
to do life will throw obstacles your way
no matter what but are you going to wait
for motivation to strike before you try
to overcome them or are you going to
incorporate implementation intentions
along with coping plans don't be like
most people who throw in the towel just
because there is a hurdle on their path
be a part of the group that actually
does what they set out to do in a smart
way now if you're looking for something
worthwhile to spend your time on then I
highly recommend you check out
Skillshare if you're not familiar
Skillshare is an online learning
platform for people looking to get ahead
in life it's kind of like Netflix but
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they offer thousands of classes on
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on any level one of the classes I
suggest you check out is from Michael
Carr juniper corn where he teaches how
to plan for and create your very own
ideal week now if you don't feel like
watching the whole class in one go you
can always use a coping plan to help you
get through so for example if you're
feeling lazy then just watch the first
two lessons you can access skill shares
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today as always thanks for watching and
I hope this video helped you become
better than yesterday
you