Turning an intention into habit starts with design. Implementation intentions—if-then plans studied by Peter Gollwitzer (1999)—translate vows into cues and actions: “If it’s 6 a.m., then I sit to write.” Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit (2012) popularized the cue–routine–reward loop, while James Clear’s Atomic Habits (2018) urged environment design that makes the desired behavior obvious, easy, and satisfying. With such scaffolding, intentions stop competing for willpower and begin riding rails. This procedural anchoring, in turn, frees attention for subtler challenges—the very space where craft can grow. [...]
