The Follow-Through Plan

Turn a goal into a system that survives bad days, busy weeks and your own best excuses.

About 20 minutes · 6 parts

Why this works. If-then plans improved goal achievement across 94 studies (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006), and tracking progress made people more likely to reach their goals across 138 experiments (Harkin et al., 2016). Picturing the goal and then naming the obstacle inside you works better than positive thinking alone. This plan uses all three.

Choose one goal only. A plan for three goals is a plan for none.

Part 1The goal and the payoff

1.Your goal in one sentence, with a number and a date:

2.Picture the best outcome. What will be different, concretely? How will it feel?

Part 2The obstacle inside you

The obstacle is rarely "I'm busy." It's what you do when you're busy.

3.What's the main thing in you that gets in the way? (A habit, a feeling, a belief, a time of day.)

4.Think of the last time this goal stalled. What exactly happened in the hour it stalled?

Part 3If-then plans

Example: If it's 7:30 a.m. and I've poured my coffee, then I open the draft before I open email.

If (cue: time, place, feeling)	Then I will (specific action)

Part 4Design your environment

Make it easier (remove friction)	Make the alternative harder (add friction)

Part 5The bad-day plan

5.The 2-minute version: what will you do on your worst day so the streak survives?

6.Never miss twice. If you miss a day, your restart plan is:

7.Who will you report progress to, and when? (Tracking works best when someone else sees it.)

Part 6Your 14-day tracker

Mark each day you did the full version (✓) or the 2-minute version (½).

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Created by Dr. Jennifer Johnston-Jones, PhD, licensed psychologist. Educational exercise for personal growth, not a psychological test, diagnosis or treatment.Want to work through this together?
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