When-then plans: give a task its moment

When this, then that

‘Start essay’ has been on your list since Monday. You want to do it, and you know how. But no moment ever feels like the moment, so it waits.

A when-then plan supplies the moment. Researchers call it an implementation intention. A goal says what you want: ‘I’ll write the essay.’ The plan adds when and where you’ll act: ‘When I get home on Tuesday and put my bag down, I’ll open the essay and write one heading.’ In a 1999 paper, Peter Gollwitzer described these plans as handing the start to a cue you expect to meet. When you meet it, the next step is already decided.

What the research found

In a 1997 study, Gollwitzer and Brandstätter asked university students to write a report on their Christmas Eve in the 2 days after it. Half also wrote down exactly when and where they’d write it. Of those, 71% sent it in on time, against 32% of the others.

A 2006 meta-analysis by Gollwitzer and Sheeran pooled 94 tests with 8,461 people. Compared with the goal alone, the benefit was medium to large.

A 2025 review by Sheeran, Listrom and Gollwitzer pooled 642 tests. Plans helped with what people did, thought and felt. They helped more when the plan named a cue, then an action (‘if this, then that’), when people cared about the goal and when they went over it at least once. There were strong signs that studies with weak results were less often published. Allowing for that, the average benefit shrank to small but was still there.

The time matters too. A 2011 study by Milkman and colleagues sent 3,272 employees of a large US company a letter about free flu shots at work. Some letters asked for the date they planned to go, others for the date and time. With a date and time, 37% got the shot, against 33% with the plain letter. A date alone made no reliable difference.

Does it work with ADHD?

A 2026 review by Breitwieser and Reinelt pooled 42 studies in children, aged about 11 on average. The benefit was small to medium overall, and larger for children with ADHD in some analyses. In a 2008 lab study, children with ADHD who made plans held back a key press as well as children without ADHD. We couldn’t find a study that tested these plans on their own with adults who have ADHD, so treat this as a good bet rather than a proven fix.

There’s a practical reason it may suit ADHD. Starting often stalls on ‘now or later?’, asked again every few minutes. A when-then plan answers it once, ahead of time.

How to do it

• Pick one task.
• Choose a cue you’ll notice: a time, a place or something you already do.
• Make the first step something you could begin in 2 minutes.
• Write it as ‘When ___, I’ll ___.’ Read it back once.
• If the moment passes, pick the next one.

Try this week

Choose one task you’ve been carrying for a while. Write one when-then plan for it with a real day and time. Read it back once. When the moment comes, do only the first step. If it slips, choose a new moment. One plan is plenty.

A date, a reminder, a first step

The to-do list shows in the full layout, with or without an account.

1. Open Planned and type the first step in the box, ending with the day: ‘Open the essay Tuesday’. The date shows under the box. Press Enter. For a date further off, press Date, then Pick a date.
2. Tap the task’s name to open its details. Set Remind me to your ‘when’, the day and the time. If the place matters, add it under Note, such as ‘Library, after lunch’.
3. On the day, the task waits at the top of My Day under Due today. Press Add to My Day.
4. When the time comes, the reminder shows above Start focus and in the list, with Got it and In an hour. Press Got it, then Start on the task’s row. Do the first step.

Reminders show only while the timer is open, in a tab or as an installed app. One that came due while it was closed shows when you next open it. During a run, a reminder waits until the run ends. If the timer is out of sight and Settings → Sound and alerts → Notifications is on, a notice says only ‘A reminder you set is due’, never the task. For anything that must not be missed, use your calendar too.

For a plan that comes round each week, set Repeat to Every week. Ticking it done makes the next one, with its date and reminder moved on. A date that passes is only a date: nothing turns red and nothing is counted.

More plans, more done?

If one plan helps, why not plan the whole week? A 2012 paper by Dalton and Spiller gave people either one goal or six to carry out each day for a working week. Plans helped with one goal but not with six. Planning six seemed to make their difficulty stand out, and people felt less committed to them. It’s one paper, and it wasn’t about ADHD. It fits how My Day works: it starts empty, and two or three things chosen each morning is a plan you can finish.