Seize the moment to act on your goals

To reach your goal, you need to act. No one achieved anything by sitting idle. You know this. Yet you fail to do things that would move you towards your goals. Often, you put together great plans and start each day intending to work on your goals. But the day zips past and at the end of the day when you look back you realize you’ve had a busy day and you forgot to work on your goals.

Maybe you worked on something important or spent time talking to colleagues or lost track of time while replying to messages from friends. You were constantly bombarded with distractions, interruptions and other work and you didn't remember to take actions that will help you accomplish your goals. Successful people also face such situations, yet they find the time to work their goals. How do they remember to take action that will lead towards to their goals? What is their secret?

Their secret is a simple technique called if-then planning. It is a proven way to achieve any goal. If-then plans take the form: If X happens, then I will do Y.

Let’s say for example you have to write a report which you just have not been able to get to. In this case, your if-then plan would be:

If I haven’t written the report before lunch, then I will make it the first thing I do when I return from lunch.

Or let’s say you have a problem of spending too much time at the water-cooler chatting with colleagues, then you could create an if-then plan as below:

If I am chatting with colleagues, then I will stick to a five-minute chat limit and head back to work.

Do these plans work? Are they effective? Studies have shown that if you decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance, your chances of success are increased by 300%! When you make if-then plans you decide when and where you will take each action. Another reason these plans work is because of the way your brain processes these plans. Humans are good at encoding and remembering information in “if X, then Y” terms. Once you’ve formulated your if-then plan, your subconscious brain will start scanning the environment, searching for the situation X in the if part of your plan. And when that situation happens, your subconscious will automatically remind you to do Y.

Have you tried telling yourself to wake up at a specific time, at the time of going to bed? If you've done that you would also know that you can wake up automatically at that time without an alarm. It seems like magic but it works. If you don’t believe me, try it. Turn off the alarm (on a Sunday if you are a low risk kind of person), tell yourself that you will wake up at a specific time and I guarantee you, you will wake up at that time. The if-then plan also works in a similar way.

Did the above pique your interest? Would you like to try it and see for yourself if it works? Then, here is how you can practically try out the if-then plan:

1.      Identify a critical action you need to take to reach your goal.

2.      Think about when and where should you take this action? Think about what the critical situation is when you should take this action?

3.      Put it all together: If (or When) _____________, then _____________. (Example: If it is 4:30 pm, then I will go to the gym)

4.      Now, think about an obstacle that might prevent you from doing the action. This could be a temptation, a distraction or just laziness (my all time favorite obstacle).

5.      When that temptation or distractions comes or when you get hit by laziness, how will you handle it? What will you do instead? Think about that.

6.      Put it all together in the if then form: If or When) _______________ , then ____________. (Example: If I feel lazy and don’t want to step out, I’ll call my friend and ask him to talk me into going to the Gym.)

Now try it and see if it works. If it does, apply it to other goals and tasks and soon you will be on your way to achieving your goals.