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Your Best Year Ever — Chapter-14: You Can Trigger Success
- Source: /library/Your Best Year Ever/source-file.pdf
- PDF pages: 171–177
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14 You Can Trigger Success If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN I had a habit goal I wanted to install: exercise for thirty minutes, Monday through Friday, at 6:00 a.m. There was only one problem. I couldn’t seem to follow through. If you’ve ever failed at reaching a New Year’s resolution, maybe you can identify. I usually started the week well. I would exercise on Monday and again on Tuesday. But by Wednesday, I was tempted to sleep in—and often would. Clearly something had to change if I wanted to achieve my goal. That’s when I decided to focus on setting my gym clothes out the night before rather than on the goal itself. It sounds ridiculously simple, but that one practice enabled me almost effortlessly to develop the habit of regular exercise.
More recently I discovered I was using a version of what goal achievement researchers call implementation intentions. I call them Activation TriggersTM. These are simple statements or actions that streamline the process of reaching our goals. How? By anticipating whatever contingencies or obstacles we might face, we can cue a desired response. Instead of relying on our decision making in the moment (when our mental and emotional resources might be at their lowest), Activation Triggers lock in our decisions in advance. Because they address contingencies, we can think of them as simple if/then or when/then statements. They work, says social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson, “because contingencies are built into our neurological wiring. . . . When people decide exactly when, where, and how they will fulfill their goals, they create a link in their brains between a certain situation or cue (‘If or when x happens’) and the behavior that should follow (‘then I will do y’). In this way, they establish powerful triggers for action.”1 It’s hard to make progress when we’re stuck in behavioral ruts. Activation triggers can get us out of the ruts and remind us of new and better behaviors that will help us reach our goals. This sort of planning smooths out the friction we experience trying to maintain momentum and gives us a way to overcome obstacles. As researchers Thomas Webb and Paschal Sheeran point out, using an Activation Trigger makes us “perceptually ready” to act. “Evidence indicates that . . . responses that have been planned out in an if-then format are initiated more immediately, more efficiently, and with less need for conscious intent,” they write.2 According to more than two hundred studies
with thousands of total participants, if-then planners are about three times more likely to achieve their goals than those who skip this step.3 So how can you leverage that advantage for yourself? You can use Activation Triggers to reach your goals by following four phases. Phase 1: Brainstorm the Best Triggers So you’ve got a goal that meets the SMARTER standard. Now you want to identify the triggers that will work best for reaching the goal. Make sure your Activation Triggers are easier to achieve than your actual goals. That’s the whole point. You’re leveraging the easy to do the hard. After you’ve come up with a short list of possible triggers (two or three), select the one you think will set you up for success. Here are a few Activation Triggers I have either used in the past or am currently using: Program the lights in my office to turn off automatically at 6:00 p.m. so I follow through on my goal of quitting work by 6:00 p.m. Ask my assistant to automatically get dinner reservations for me each Friday night at 6:00 p.m. so I follow through on my goal of a weekly date night. Set up an automated macro that closes all my open programs and opens only the ones I will need for my quiet time so I follow through on my goal to begin the day with prayer, Bible reading, and reflection. Hire a fitness trainer to work with me on strength training so I follow through on my goal to do strength training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Throw out all processed food from my refrigerator and pantry so I follow through on my goal to eat only clean, whole, organic foods. Have my assistant book appointments to interview authors so I follow through on my goal to read one book per week. Set up an automatic deposit to my savings account so I follow through on my goal to save a certain amount of money. Take my laptop out of the house so I am not tempted to get back on my computer in the evening and follow through on my goal to have more
Off Stage time. Hopefully these prime the pump. Your triggers will almost certainly look very different from mine. The important thing is to identify them and build them into your life. Phase 2: Optimize Your Activation Triggers A major part of the Activation Trigger process is thinking when you’re at your strongest, rather than relying on your willpower when you’re not. With that in mind, you can optimize your triggers to further promote success. Notice in my examples above how I have taken the trigger out of my control as much as possible using elimination, automation, and delegation. For example: I eliminated temptations that could derail me. I threw out all the processed food in my kitchen. I removed my laptop from the house. I automated my Activation Trigger using technology. I set up an automated macro to set myself up for my quiet time. I programmed the lights in my office. I set up an auto-deposit to my savings account. I delegated my Activation Trigger using my assistant. He sets up my dinner reservations and books interviews with authors. By taking the trigger out of your control, you’re no longer relying on yourself in the moment. You’re identifying contingencies (such as desiring to work late or forgetting to secure a reservation) and taking care of them in advance. When the contingency arises, you’ve already handled it. Phase 3: Anticipate Obstacles and Determine Your Response Even with a set of Activation Triggers firmly in place, you can still get derailed unless you identify potential obstacles and detail how you will deal with them. For example, I have a habit goal of leaving the office promptly
at 6:00 p.m. But my goal can easily be undermined by a phone call or someone dropping by at the last minute. The key is to decide in advance how I will handle each of these contingencies. Here’s what I came up with: If I get a phone call after 5:45 p.m., then I’ll let it go to voice mail. If team members ask to talk on the way out, then I’ll tell them I’m happy to talk tomorrow. If I have to attend a meeting at 5:00 p.m., then I’ll tell the organizer I must leave the meeting by 5:55 p.m. When an important email arrives, I will answer it before 5:30 and will not check email again after 5:45 p.m. This kind of if/then planning replaces an in-the-moment decision with a predetermined cue. “When people have formed an implementation intention, they can act [automatically], without having to deliberate on when and how they should act,” say goal theorists Peter M. Gollwitzer and Gabriele Oettingen.4 The heavy lifting is already done. Phase 4: Experiment until You Nail It This is the key to success. You’re going to experience setbacks—especially if you’re normal. As I teach in 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever, when you hit a wall, it’s time to pivot. Your goal might be sacred, but your strategy isn’t. Don’t give up on your goal, just change your approach. That means modifying your Activation Triggers until they’re working right for you. Sometimes all it takes is a small tweak. For example, when I first set a habit goal to have more Off Stage time in the evening, I thought it would be sufficient to close my laptop but leave it in the den. That worked for the first few days, but unfortunately I soon started cheating by opening the lid and checking social media. I solved the problem by removing my laptop from the house. Now it remains in my office. Whatever your goal, the trick is to simply think through the contingencies and obstacles that will prevent you from achieving it. Once you’ve thought through the most likely hang-ups, you can pre-respond so you know what to do the second they occur. It might take a little
imagination to think through the potential obstacles to your goals, but it’s worth it. Once you’ve used them a few times, they’ll become second nature.