Applying If-Then Strategies to Daily Habits

This is an IHART podcast guaranteed human . Hey listeners , if you've been thinking about what it takes to move forward , consider this . Progress starts with believing it's possible and then taking one step at a time . Today's tip is powered by National University , a nonprofit institution designed to help busy professionals make progress without putting their lives on hold . National University's Flexible Online formats, four and eight week courses, and monthly class starts let you start sooner, finish faster, and learn on your schedule . And right now they're offering the Believe and Succeed Scholarship , providing up to six thousand dollars each year for eligible bachelors and masters students who apply by july thirty first . With more than one hundred and fifty degrees, credentials and certificates available , NU has a program to support your next step wherever you want to go. Learn more at nu dot edu . Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of IHERT Radio . Good morning . This is Laura . Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast . Today's tip is that if you are working toward a goal , decide on how you will react every time you encounter specific circumstances , if and when something happens , then you will do this , and you will keep making progress Today's tip, like another from this week, comes from social psychologist Robert Chaldini's book Persuasion , a revolutionary way to influence and persuade . It is It is easy to set a goal , but sometimes we don't make progress toward the goals we set . Sometimes we give in to temptation . Other times we simply forget about what we plan to do or we get distracted from our intentions and don't end up following through . Chaldini's solution is to make what he calls if when plans . He explains they are designed to help us achieve a goal by readying us one , to register certain queues and settings where we can further our goal , and two , to take an appropriate action spurred by the queues and consistent with our goal . You notice when the opportunity to make a choice comes up and you know what to do in these moments . Chaldini gives the example of making a plan that if and when you're at a work lunch and the server asks whether you'd like to order dessert and perhaps others are too , then you will order mint tea . I bet you can think of a lot of similar if then plans that you could make . Maybe you're trying to eat more fruits and vegetables . You could set a plan that when you're having a meal , then you are having produce . This seems fairly doable . You may not love the salad at your neighborhood pizza parlor , but that is beside the point. The point is that anytime you are having a meal , you are having fruit or vegetables . You do what is necessary to make that happen . Perhaps you're trying to spend less time on social med ia . You could say if and when I am inclined to check Instagram , then I will get on my Libby app and read a chapter in a book first . You can get on social media after that if you still want to. You might be trying to create more social connection in your life . You could say When I'm having lunch during the work week , then I will connect with other people , whether by eating in the break room , going out to lunch with a friend or if I am eating alone , texting a friend or family member . I think if is a great planning tool . You're identifying in advance