Coaching practices for Implementation Intentions
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Implementation Intentions, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I genuinely intend to do the thing
- I genuinely mean to do it, but the day swallows it every time and “I’ll get to it” never actually turns into doing it
- I keep telling myself I’ll get to it "sometime today" and then the day just dissolves and I never do
- I have the same realization after every messy episode
- I do these honest reviews of my day and then nothing actually changes tomorrow
Practices that may help
- Set if-then implementation intentions for goal behaviors
Specify when, where, and how you’ll act — not just whether you intend to.
Hyperbolic Discounting — Why Future You Always Gets the Short End - Write when, where, and how plans for every behavioral goal
Specify exactly when, where, and how you will act — not just what you intend to do.
Action Planning - Specify the when and where for every goal action
"I will do [behavior] at [time] in [location]" — specificity creates an automatic trigger.
If–Then Planning, Made Practical - End every AAR with one specific, time-bound next action
An AAR without a concrete next action produces insight without change.
After-Action Review: The US Army’s Tool for Continuous Learning - Close with a forward-looking resolve
Choose one concrete intention to carry into tomorrow before closing the review.
The Ignatian Examen: Five Movements of Daily Review - Action Planning
Action planning — specifying when, where, and how you will execute a goal-directed behavior — is one of the best-supported techniques for closing the intention-behavior gap. Orbell and Sheeran’s research, along with Peter Gollwitzer’s work on implementation intentions, shows that forming specific plans reliably increases behavior over vague intentions alone, with meta-analytic effect sizes in the small-to-medium range. - Ground transcendental future thinking in present action
If your motivation is legacy or meaning-based, translate it into a concrete this-week action.
Time Perspective Therapy - Combine mental contrasting with an if–then plan (MCII)
Fantasize about success, then vividly imagine the key obstacle, then write the if–then — the sequence matters.
If–Then Planning, Made Practical - Use commitment devices to make future behavior harder to avoid
Pre-commit to the behavior now — when your current self is motivated — to bind your future self.
Action Planning - Turn the chosen domain into a committed action
Convert the domain insight into a concrete, timed, values-linked behavior — not a vague intention.
Values Bullseye, Made Practical
Related concerns
- Implementation Intention Performance
Specify when, where, and how you’ll act — not just whether you intend to.
Set if-then implementation intentions for goal behaviors
- Implementation Intention Steps
Specify exactly when, where, and how you will act — not just what you intend to do.
Write when, where, and how plans for every behavioral goal
- Implementation Intentions Management
Specify when, where, and how you’ll act — not just whether you intend to.
- Implementation Intention Movement
Specify exactly when, where, and how you will act — not just what you intend to do.
- Implementation Intention Values
Specify when, where, and how you’ll act — not just whether you intend to.
- Implementation Intention When Where
Specify exactly when, where, and how you will act — not just what you intend to do.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.