The inner life
Implementation Intention
Direct answer
Implementation Intention: An implementation intention is a plan in the form 'if situation X arises, then I do Y', which links a chosen act to a specific cue so that it starts without fresh deliberation.
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At a glance
- Also called
- if-then plan, if then planning
- Found in
- Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- Related
- Mental Contrasting, Manifestation, Affirmation
An implementation intention is a plan in the form 'if situation X arises, then I do Y', which links a chosen act to a specific cue so that it starts without fresh deliberation.
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What is an implementation intention?
An implementation intention spells out when, where and how a person means to act on a goal. A goal intention says 'I want to exercise more'. An implementation intention says 'if it is seven on a weekday morning, then I put on my shoes and walk for twenty minutes'. The cue is concrete and the response is one act.
The form works by handing control to the situation. Once the link is made, meeting the cue brings the act to mind and starts it with little effort, much as a habit does. The same form can guard a goal: 'if I am offered a second drink, then I ask for water'.
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What sets Implementation Intention apart
What defines it is the handing over of the start. An ordinary resolve leaves the moment of acting to be decided later, when attention and willpower may be low. The if-then form decides it in advance and attaches it to something that is certain to happen, so the cue does the remembering. Experiments show the response then begins faster and with less conscious effort, and holds up when the person is tired or distracted, which is when plain resolve fails.
- Form: 'If situation X arises, then I do Y'
- Researcher: Peter M. Gollwitzer, who first described it in the early 1990s
- Summary paper: Implementation Intentions: Strong Effects of Simple Plans, American Psychologist, 1999
- Review: Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006: 94 studies, medium to large effect
- Contrast term: goal intention: 'I intend to reach Z', with no cue named
Often mistaken for something else: A habit links cue and act through long repetition; an implementation intention makes the same link in one deliberate sentence, before any repetition.
The story behind Implementation Intention
Peter Gollwitzer, a German psychologist, introduced the concept in the early 1990s and summed up the findings in a 1999 paper, Implementation Intentions: Strong Effects of Simple Plans. A 2006 review with Paschal Sheeran pooled 94 independent studies and found a medium to large effect on reaching goals. The method has since been tested on exercise, diet, study, voting and taking medicine on time.
Why Implementation Intention matters
Implementation Intention closes the gap that manifestation teaching leaves open, between meaning to act and acting, with a single written sentence.
How to read Implementation Intention
Readers pick one cue they are sure to meet and one act small enough to begin at once, and write the two as a single if-then line.
Implementation Intention in practice: an example
If I sit down at my desk after lunch, then I write the first sentence of the report before opening my mail.
Where readings of Implementation Intention go wrong
Implementation Intention helps a person carry out an aim they already hold; it is a plan for their own conduct and does nothing to events or to other people.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- Aliases
- implementation intentions, if-then plan, if then planning, implementation intention meaning
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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More in Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- MILD
- Projection
- Self-Observation
- Spoon Bending
- Wake Back to Bed (WBTB)
- Bell's Theorem
- Continuity Hypothesis
- False Awakening
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Common questions
What is an implementation intention?
It is a plan written as if-then: if a named situation arises, then I perform a named act. It ties the start of the act to a cue in the world instead of to willpower in the moment.
How is it different from a goal?
A goal names what is wanted. An implementation intention names when, where and how the first step is taken. Studies find that adding the second to the first raises the chance of acting.
How do I write an if-then plan?
Choose a cue certain to occur, such as a time, a place or the end of another act. Choose one small response. Write them as a single sentence beginning with if, and read it over once or twice.
