Why does a written plan make you more likely to follow through?
Short answer
Because wanting to do something and doing it are different things. Deciding in advance when, where and how you will act closes much of that gap, and the effect shows up across dozens of experiments.
Key points
- Strong intentions on their own change behaviour less than people expect.
- "If it is 7am on a weekday, I run" works better than "I will run more".
- A plan also decides in advance what to do when things go wrong.
The intention–behaviour gap
In a review of 47 experiments, raising how strongly people intended to do something produced a medium-to-large change in intention, but only a small-to-medium change in what they actually did. Wanting it more is not enough.
What closes the gap
Psychologists call it an implementation intention: a plan that spells out when, where and how you will act. "If it is 7am on a weekday, I put my running shoes on." Across 94 tests, plans like this had a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals, because the decision has already been made when the moment comes.
Why on paper
A written plan is specific by necessity: a date, a time, an amount. It is also something to check against, which turns "I should do more" into a question with a yes or no answer.
In your plan
Every day of your plan says what to do and what it is for, from today to your target date. The deciding is done in advance, so on the day there is only the doing.
Related questions
What makes a goal worth planning for?
A good goal is specific, a stretch but believable, and has a date. Decades of goal-setting research found that specific, challenging goals lead to better results than vague intentions to do your best.
Read the full answerDoes tracking your progress really make a difference?
Yes. Across 138 experiments, people prompted to monitor their progress were more likely to reach their goals, and the effect was larger when progress was written down or shared with someone.
Read the full answerWhy do most plans fail?
Rarely for lack of wanting it. Most fail because they start too big, stay vague about when things happen, have no plan for bad days, and treat one slip as the end.
Read the full answerThanks. That helps us improve this answer.