I read this article about how if you write down plans of action for achieving your goals your likelihood of achieving them is much higher. The article calls them implementation intentions, which is sort of a mouthful. It is a good article though and you should totally read it. I’ll wait.
Right, the article says that you are twice as likely to follow through if you have written down how you are going to follow through. That this works probably has something to do with visualization. Imagining how awesome my muscles will look when I can do thirty-five pull ups in a row is good motivation but doesn’t actually help me get there. Imagining how I am going to get up in the morning and do more and more pull ups each day is forcing myself to focus on the implementation of my goal and paves the way to it.
I figured I’d write down some implementation intentions fora few of my new year resolutions.
- If it is 6:15 AM and a weekday then I will get out of bed and do exercise for half an hour. (It will probably be Just Dance 3 and pull ups.)
- If I am going to bed and I haven’t yet read my scriptures for the day then I will read them before I go to sleep.
- If it is Sunday night and I haven’t finished my letter to my mother for the week then I will finish it before I go to sleep.
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