It is a common belief that a habit can be established in 21 days. This idea seems to have stemmed from a self-help book published in the 1970’s called “Psycho-Cybernetics” and then reinforced by a plethora of advice columns. This number isn’t completely accurate according to psychologist Jeremy Dean, writer of “Making Habits, Breaking Habits.”
With the start of a brand new year and the inevitable new years resolutions, we should arm ourselves with accurate information on implementing or destroying habits. In his novel, Dean cites a study conducted at the University College London and states, “The simple answer is that, on average, across the participants who provided data, it took 66 days until a habit was formed.” Do not be discouraged by the results of this study. Some participants reported establishing new habits in as few as 20 days. Dean writes, “As you might imagine, there was considerable variation in how long habits took to form depending on what people tried to do. People who resolved to drink a glass of water after breakfast were up to a maximum automaticity after about 20 days.”
The number of days it took to establish a new habit depended significantly on the difficulty of the habit itself. According to the data, “The exercise habit proved most tricky with ’50 sit-ups after morning coffee’, still not a habit after 84 days for one participant.’Walking for 10 minutes after breakfast’ though, was turned into a habit after 50 days for antoher participant.” Instead of shooting for the moon and resolving to work out every day, start simple. Try breaking down a larger goal into smaller pieces. For example rather than going to the gym every day, go twice a week. After a few weeks of accomplishing this then build on it and go three times a week.
If the goal at hand is something you are attempting on a daily basis, make your environment work for you. For instance if you were to engage in a morning walk or run, set your clothes and shoes in a convienent location the night before. This way when you wake from your deep slumber you won’t have to waste precious time searching for a lost shoe. You can toss your gear on and bolt out the door. A small change which could ultimately save valuable time for that morning cup of coffee after your run.
Often times starting with a large goal can become overwhelming and result in giving up altogether. However if you take baby steps toward a larger goal it becomes more manageable and thus results in a higher sucess rate. Each small win will fuel the fire within and fan the flames of excitement and desire. This in turn creates more motivation to forge ahead and become one of the elite individuals who actually succeed at completing their new years resolutions.
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