Implementation Intentions — the research, and how to use it at events

The research, plainly

Peter Gollwitzer's research on if-then planning showed that specifying when, where, and how — 'When X happens, I will do Y' — dramatically increases follow-through on voting, exercise, screenings, and goals of every kind. The plan pre-loads the behavior so the moment triggers it automatically.

The receipt: Gollwitzer, 1999

What it means for events

Events collect intentions by the thousand and convert almost none — because they collect goals instead of plans. Change the exit question from 'what will you do?' to 'when exactly, where exactly, triggered by what?' and Day-30 behavior transforms.

Where to run it

Conference close

Commitment cards with three blanks: the action, the calendar slot, the trigger. No card leaves incomplete.

Workshop output

Every takeaway gets an if-then: 'When Monday's pipeline review opens, I run the new qualification question.'

Sales follow-up

Book the follow-through meeting in the room, on the calendar, before goodbye — the plan is the product.

Seen in the wild

The wholesale shift of serious training programs from 'inspiration' to structured action planning — worksheets asking when, where, and how — is Gollwitzer absorbed into practice: the field learned that unspecified intentions evaporate.

Related concepts

Commitment & ConsistencyOnce someone says it out loud — in writing, in public, by choice — they work hard to stay true to it.DefaultsWhatever happens automatically is what mostly happens.The Question–Behavior EffectJust asking people whether they'll do something makes them more likely to do it.

All 115 concepts in the Library →

Now use it

Score your own event against principles like this one — or make the whole vocabulary official.

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