Plenty of goals fade without anyone deciding to drop them. Nobody says “I give up on running.” The mornings simply go by, and the plan goes quiet.
One of the oldest tricks for this is a sentence with two halves: if this happens, then I will do that. It is small enough to fit into a letter, and a letter adds what a to-do list cannot: a reader who will check.
The two-half sentence
An if-then plan names a cue and an action. “If it is Tuesday and I get home, then I will put my shoes on and walk to the corner before I sit down.” The cue is something you will certainly meet: a time, a place, an event or a feeling. The action is small and clear.
The idea is that you decide once, in advance, when you are calm. When the cue turns up, you do not have to decide again. You only have to notice it.
What the research found
Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer described these plans as “implementation intentions”. His 1999 paper in American Psychologist, titled “Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans,” is the usual starting point, and it reviews research showing that people who decide in advance when and where they will act are more likely to act.
A well-known trial followed. Milne, Orbell and Sheeran (2002, British Journal of Health Psychology) assigned 248 participants to a control group or to one of two intervention groups. The motivational program raised people's intentions to exercise, but it did not significantly change how much they exercised. When an if-then plan was added, the effect on exercise over the next two weeks was, in the authors' word, dramatic.
The picture is less tidy in later work. A 2018 systematic review in PLOS ONE (da Silva and colleagues) looked at 13 randomized trials of if-then plans and physical activity in adults. It found a modest benefit when the plan was reinforced, and the authors were careful about what the studies could show.
What the studies do not tell you
Be honest about the limits. Much of this research is about exercise, and the follow-up periods are often short. Different trials used different methods, and the reviewers found that how well the plan was supported mattered. None of this shows that a sentence will change your life.
What it does suggest is modest and useful. A plan tied to a cue can help you start. It is a tool, and a letter is a good place to try it, because you can see afterward what happened.
Why put the plans in a letter
A letter records what you meant, in your own words, on a particular day. It also sends the plans to the person who needs them: you, six months from now, with a fresh view of what worked.
The letter does not remind you. We email it once, on the day you chose, between 8:00 and noon in your time zone, and there are no follow-up emails. So the cue has to live in your life, not in the inbox. The letter is where you check the plan, not where it happens.
How to write three if-then sentences
Choose one goal, and write three plans for it. Make each cue something you will actually meet, and each action something you can do in five minutes.
- Vague: “If I have time, then I will exercise.”
- Better: “If I take my lunch break, then I will walk around the block once.”
- Vague: “If I feel stressed, then I will relax.”
- Better: “If I feel my jaw tighten at my desk, then I will stand up and fill my water bottle.”
Plan for the obstacle too. “If I am too tired after work, then I will put my shoes on and walk to the corner, nothing more.” The smallest version still counts, and it keeps the habit alive on bad days.
Three ways these plans go wrong
The cue is too vague. “Sometime this week” is not a cue, because nothing will ever tap you on the shoulder. Pick something that happens whether you want it to or not, like the kettle boiling or the train doors opening.
The action is too big. “Then I will write for two hours” fails on the first tired evening. Shrink it until it feels almost silly, and let the real work grow from there.
You write too many. Three plans for one goal is plenty. Ten plans for ten goals turns the letter into a to-do list, and a to-do list is not what your future self wants to open.
When to send it
Pick a day six months ahead for a goal that needs time, or three months if the goal is smaller. If you like, write a second letter for a month out, as a first quick look. You cannot edit or cancel a saved letter, so write plans you would be glad to find.
What to ask when it arrives
Close the letter with two questions. Which of my three sentences did I use? Which cue never came up? The answers tell you what to change. Often the plan is good and the cue was wrong, and a new cue is all it needs.
You may find that one sentence did most of the work. Keep that one, rewrite the other two, and send a new letter.
Three plans in a letter
Dear future me,
Here is the plan, in three sentences. If Monday morning fills up with meetings, then I will still book thirty minutes for my one-on-ones before lunch. If someone brings me a problem in the corridor, then I will ask one question before I offer an answer. If I put the kettle on after dinner, then I will write one line to my sister. Tell me which of these survived. I suspect it is the corridor one.
[your name]
Write it now
Pick one goal that has been quietly slipping. Write three if-then sentences with cues you will certainly meet, add the two questions at the end, and choose a date a few months ahead. Then watch for the first cue.
