We won’t write about that any more. In this article we give you a tool that will let you win that battle.
Introducing the Implementation Micro-Contract – NESSE’s own solution that turns inspiration into an instinctive reflex.
Why isn’t willpower enough? (The science of intention)
After training, most of us promise ourselves: “I’ll use feedback more often” or “I’ll start planning my time better”. These are fine resolutions, but from the point of view of behavioural psychology they are… useless. Under stress and the pressure of time and emails, the brain can’t handle a generality. It needs an “if – then” command.
Peter Gollwitzer, an outstanding psychologist at New York University, spent years researching so-called implementation intentions(Implementation Intentions). In Gollwitzer’s studies, people with an if–then plan completed difficult tasks up to 2–3 times more often than people relying on willpower alone.
Our Implementation Micro-Contract is based on exactly this hard science. We don’t ask you to change your whole way of working. We ask you to sign a pact with yourself for one specific situation.
Elements of the Micro-Contract: how does it work?
The tool we have prepared for you consists of four foundations that “hack” the mechanisms of forgetting:
1. Selection through active recall (choosing your weapon)
Instead of going back to your notes, close your eyes and ask yourself: “What one specific thing from the last meeting or training seemed most helpful in solving my biggest problem?”. Writing it down in your own words is the first impulse for the hippocampus to consolidate this information.
2. Identifying the trigger (the “IF” section)
The brain needs an anchor. A trigger can be a moment in time, another person’s behaviour or your own emotional state.
Example: “If the client says: that’s too expensive for us…” or “If I feel myself getting irritated during a team meeting…”.
3. The rescue action (the “THEN” section)
Here you write the new competency, but in the form of a micro-action. It has to be so simple that you could do it even on your worst day.
Example: “…then instead of offering a discount, I’ll ask about their quality priorities” or “…then I’ll take a deep breath and ask: what do you mean when you say X?”.
4. The 72-hour window (test deadline)
Without a date, a contract is just a dream. You have to specify when within the next three days the “moment of truth” will happen. It is within this time window (roughly) that your synapses are most plastic. Every use of the tool within this window sends a signal: “We’re keeping this neural connection, it’s useful to us!”.
Why is this NESSE tool for you?
At NESSE we don’t want to add to your workload. We know your calendar is already full. The Implementation Micro-Contract is designed so that filling it in takes you no more than 5 minutes.
This tool takes away the pressure to be “perfect after training”. It teaches you the method of small steps. If you implement one micro-contract a week, after a year you could have as many as 52 new, partly automated habits. That is exactly the difference between a theorist and a professional.
Your knowledge is like a muscle – it only grows when you put it up against resistance in the real world.
The Micro-Contract is your training plan.
Will you sign it with yourself?