If-then plans that shield work from distracting thoughts
Field experiments found if-then plans aimed at disruptive thoughts and feelings raised goal attainment, not just getting started.
The short version
If-then plans are best known for helping people get started on a goal. This paper showed they can also keep an ongoing effort from drifting off course. In two field experiments — one on dieting, one on athletic performance — people who made if-then plans aimed at the inner states that threaten their goals, such as cravings or disruptive thoughts and feelings, reached their goals more often.
What the researchers did
Anja Achtziger, Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran ran two field experiments, outside the lab, with people pursuing real goals. In the first, participants trying to diet formed implementation intentions targeting their cravings for junk food. In the second, participants pursuing athletic goals formed plans aimed at disruptive thoughts, feelings and physiological states that could interfere with performance. Each was compared with participants who held the same goal without the if-then plan.
What they found
- Higher goal attainment in both studies. In each experiment, forming if-then plans increased the rate at which people attained their goals.
- Shielding, not just starting. The plans worked by controlling interfering inner states during goal striving — the cravings, doubts and nerves that pull effort off track once it is under way.
- A broader role for planning. The authors conclude that implementation intentions help not only by getting goal striving started but also by preventing it from straying off course.
Limits and caveats
These are two studies in specific domains — diet and sport — and neither involves knowledge work or attention at a desk. The leap to "if-then plans protect focus at work" is an inference, though a reasonable one given the wider evidence (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006). Exact sample sizes and effect sizes are reported in the full paper and are not repeated here.
What it means for how you work
Most distractions at work start on the inside: an urge to check messages, a flicker of boredom, a worry about something else. You can plan for those in advance. Pick the inner state that most often derails you and write a plan for it — "If I feel stuck and want to switch tasks, then I write the next small step and do it for five minutes," or "If a worry about another project comes up, then I add it to my capture list." Writing the stray thought down has its own evidence behind it (Masicampo & Baumeister, 2011).