Habit Formation Strategies to Help Clients Achieve Goals

Have you ever heard, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"? Even if you haven't, I'm sure you can understand it to be true, especially when it comes to health and fitness behaviors!

How many times have you talked to a client who had wonderful intentions to do X, Y, and Z but failed to make it to the "other side" into actual behavior, action, and eventual goal achievement?⁣ You know what I'm referring to. That client who has a history of saying they are ready to eat well, hit the gym, and improve their mindset, only to fall off the wagon a couple of weeks later.

The reason people often struggle to create change is that they don't focus on creating healthy habits or have any sort of game plan in place.

Intentions are necessary for goal achievement, but often aren't sufficient to get someone all the way across the finish line.⁣ Research provides evidence that you have about a 50/50 shot of your intentions leading to actual behavior.⁣

Today, I want to talk about my favorite strategy to bridge this gap by using "if-then" planning (aka implementation intentions)⁣.

How Implementation Intentions Work: A Tool for Habit Formation

Implementation intentions are similar to habit formation. If-then planning helps you use environmental or social cues to initiate goal-directed behaviors, making goal pursuit more automatic. 

This method helps you recognize ineffective behaviors and prepares you to replace them with better alternatives. In other words, you stop doing what isn't working. 

By practicing implementation intentions, you conserve mental resources to avoid competing goals or distractions. The result is that you'll have more energy for self-control. 

As a fitness coach, you likely have some implementation intentions already in place without even realizing the technical term for them. Our habits guide behavior, and you likely have some habits in place, such as maybe preparing your gym clothes the night before, that help you achieve a desired behavior.

There might have been a time in your life when you had to talk yourself into a particular habit, like taking your vitamins, getting to the gym, or drinking water, but you eventually formed a habit, and now these things are part of your everyday life.

Applying Implementation Intentions to Improve Behavior Patterns

So, the big question is, how do you help your clients form good habits?

They came to you for coaching and likely already expressed their desire to create healthy habits, but relying on you, motivation, and self-control to get there isn't enough. What are they going to do when old habits present themselves or a new challenge comes up?

When coaching for behavior change, we want to move our clients away from traditional goal intentions, like:⁣⁣ "I want to live a healthier lifestyle."⁣

That's fantastic, but first off, what exactly is a healthier lifestyle (see this blog post for more on setting SMARTER goals), and what are they going to do when challenges come up?

When working with implementation intentions to create new habits, we want to connect a future situation with a specific goal-directed behavior, like:⁣

• "If I'm offered another glass of wine, then I'll opt for soda water instead."⁣
• "If I go out for dinner with friends, then I'll have a protein shake beforehand, so I don't show up too hungry and can make more mindful choices."
• "If I don't feel like getting up to go to the gym in the morning, then I'll get out of bed and go to the bathroom before deciding if I'll skip the gym."
• "If I feel tired after work, then I'll go for a 20-minute walk instead of skipping exercise altogether."

Implementation intentions are especially helpful for situations that typically present obstacles or challenges.⁣

I recommend working with your clients and having them come up with these if-then plans as much as they can. You can, of course, guide them to making habits that support healthy living, but it's essential that clients maintain autonomy throughout this process.

Having your clients think about these situations in advance leads to better perception, attention, and memory concerning that situation.⁣

Because of this pre-planned process, the goal-directed action (e.g., drinking soda water) has a chance of being performed more automatically and efficiently without tons of conscious effort or hesitation⁣.

Remember, hesitation provides cracks for excuses to break through. But with this more automated process, your clients will free up more "resources" for their brains to use to avoid competing goals or distractions⁣.

Simply put, the three things they need to do to apply implementation intentions to form new habits are:

1. Specify where they will implement the desired behavior (at a restaurant, family dinner, etc.).
2. Specify when they will do this new behavior (if offered more wine, if they don't want to go to the gym).
3. Specify how they will work toward their desired behavior (have soda instead, sleep in their gym clothes).

Breaking it down this way will make it easier to ditch those bad habits your client is trying to get away from.

Research Supports Implementation Intentions

Before you think, "Wow, this is so stupidly simple, no way does it make that much of a difference," I promise you, it does.⁣ And science can back me up!⁣

According to research, if-then planning can be helpful for goal achievement with:⁣

• Cancer screening⁣
• Eating healthier⁣
• Exercising more⁣
• Drinking less⁣
• Giving up smoking⁣

⁣If you haven't given this strategy a try with your clients, I strongly recommend you do. 

Start with something small, like the wine example above, and see how much better and more in control they feel.

The Psychology Behind Why Implementation Intentions Work in the Habit Formation Process

It's likely that you've noticed that one of the biggest challenges you face as a fitness coach isn't getting clients to set goals or decide on new habits they want to incorporate into their lives. The biggest challenge is helping your clients follow through with the beneficial habits.

As the research shows, practicing implementation intentions will bridge that gap between intention and habit formation. It takes clients from wishing they had good habits to actually changing habits.

Implementation intentions were first studied by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer, who found that forming an "if-then" plan significantly increases the likelihood that people will follow through on their goals. The psychology is rooted in automaticity—by creating a clear cue ("if X happens") and a pre-decided response ("then I will Y"), clients reduce the need for willpower or motivation in the moment. Instead of needing to decide what to do, they just do it.

This small tweak can transform passive intentions into concrete actions. That's because implementation intentions help bypass the mental friction that often derails behavior, like indecision, emotional resistance, or forgetfulness.

Here's how the psychology plays out:

• Cue-based behavior: By linking an action to a specific situation or time, it becomes easier to remember and act on.
• Reduced cognitive load: Clients don't have to mentally "debate" what to do in the moment. The plan is already made.
• Increased follow-through: Studies show that people who use implementation intentions are significantly more likely to stick to their behaviors, especially when obstacles arise.

In fitness coaching, this means fewer missed workouts, better consistency with nutrition habits, and stronger long-term adherence—all without needing more motivation or external accountability.

You're essentially helping clients "coach themselves" in moments when you're not there. And that's exactly what you want, right? To help your clients get to the point where things like healthy eating and working out are things they can do without relying on you.

This is what makes implementation intentions such a powerful coaching tool. They're not just about setting better goals—they're about helping clients act on the goals they already care about (you know, that intrinsic motivation).

Check out my original post HERE.

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IG: @coachkaseyjo @healthmindsetcert

References

Adriaanse, M. A., Vinkers, C. D., De Ridder, D. T., Hox, J. J., & De Wit, J. B. (2011). Do implementation intentions help to eat a healthy diet? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the empirical evidence. Appetite, 56(1), 183–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.10.012

Armitage, C. J. (2016). Evidence that implementation intentions can overcome the effects of smoking habits. Health Psychology, 35(9), 935–943. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000344

Bélanger-Gravel, A., Godin, G., & Amireault, S. (2013). A meta-analytic review of the effect of implementation intentions on physical activity. Health psychology review, 7(1), 23-54.

Godin, G., & Kok, G. (1996). The theory of planned behavior: a review of its applications to health-related behaviors. American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 11(2), 87–98. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-11.2.87

Hagger, M.S., Lonsdale, A., Koka, A. et al. An Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Consumption in Undergraduate Students Using Implementation Intentions and Mental Simulations: A Cross-National Study. Int.J. Behav. Med. 19, 82–96 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-011-9163-8

Sheeran, P., & Orbell, S. (2000). Using implementation intentions to increase attendance for cervical cancer screening. Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 19(3), 283–289. https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-6133.19.3.28