Do you find yourself creating goals and then not moving forward to achieve them?
Exciting research from the University of Konstanz in Germany by Peter Gollwitzer has found a simple way to triple your likelihood to succeed with achieving goals. In this study, Konstanz observed that there are 4 phases of goal attainment:
- Predecisional – before you make the decision to achieve objectives
- Preactional – before you take action to accomplish goals
- Actional -taking the action
- Postactional – after you take the action
Do you know what the hardest step is to take? Between the Preactional and the Actional phases. This is the critical moment when you take a goal and choose to move forward with a specific action that makes the goal attainment more likely. Gollwitzer discovered that you can use a simple technique called “implementation intentions” to help people stay focused on their goal, but also allow them to take action on things they might have missed because they were engrossed in another task. Implementation Intentions have been proven to triple your likelihood of success in achieving objectives.
To use an implementation intention to begin to take action on a goal, say this sentence to yourself:
When I encounter [a specific situation (e.g. thought, person, visual cue)] I will do the following thing [behave a certain way, say a certain thing, think a certain thought] so that I can achieve [the goal].
For example:
- “When I walk into a meeting, I will look each person in the eye and make some form of contact with them so that I can improve my relationships at work.”
- “When I look at the picture of Susan on my desk, I will smile and relax my body so that I can reduce my stress levels.”
- “When I see the candy dish on Carol’s desk, I will keep on walking so that I don’t stop and help myself to sweets I don’t need.”
- “When I see my running shoes, I will put them on and go out for a jog so that I will lose 20 pounds.”
- “When someone comes to me with a problem, I will shut my mouth, listen and then ask them 3 questions so that I learn how to coach instead of telling them what to do.”
Try out implementation intentions at work and triple your chances of achieving your objectives!
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