The Three-Word Upgrade for Goals That Stick
People who add an if-then trigger to their goals are 2-3x more likely to follow through. The trick isn't motivation. It's offloading the decision to the environment.
Motivation gets all the credit. But the difference between people who follow through and people who don't often comes down to three words: if, then, when.
Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer found that people who form "implementation intentions" (if X happens, then I will do Y) are 2-3x more likely to complete difficult goals than those who simply intend to do them.
The mechanism: if-then plans outsource the decision to the environment. Instead of relying on willpower in the moment, you pre-decide. The situation becomes the trigger. When you encounter the cue, the behavior fires automatically.
The hack: Take one goal you want your team to adopt. Attach a specific trigger.
Not: "Give more feedback." But: "If I finish a 1:1, then I send one specific piece of written feedback within the hour."
The goal stays the same. The likelihood of it happening triples.
