How many times have you heard that it takes just a few weeks to develop a new habit? It seems to be common knowledge that it should take about 21 days for a new habit to form and cement itself in our minds. The truth is actually a bit more complicated than that, but there are proven ways to help you lock in the changes that you want to make.
The myth about behavior becoming automatic in 21 days started when journalists misinterpreted a popular self-help book on Psycho Cybernetics back in the 1960’s. The research was actually about amputees adjusting to the loss of a limb. Creating habits was not what the that research was about. That research was more about people adapting to a life-changing event.
21 Days Is A Good Start!
Changing a habit and having it stick, depending on the habit that you are trying to change or create can take at least 21 days of conscious effort, however, depending on the habit, how complicated the habit is as well as for changing a “bad” habit, how ingrained it is in your psyche, will probably take more than just 21 days. After all, you can probably eat more vegetables and drink more water starting today, but complex tasks like learning to play a new instrument or to speak a new language are going to take more than a month to gel.
Nonetheless, it is still possible to change your habits or to create new ones. Do not let the time period dissuade you. If you are looking for success in your life, you really have no other choice. Well formed and good habits are the key to reaching your goals and achieving success in your life.
Yes, it will take time and work on your part, and yes, it may be hard. On the other hand, there is no time like the present, right now, as an ideal time to begin forming constructive habits that will enhance your productivity and wellbeing. You only sabotage yourself by putting of the changing or adding of habits because it may take longer than you once thought it took to have them become a part of you.
Take a look at these strategies for learning new behaviors.
Basic Strategies For Habit Formation
Try these tips for easing into your new routines as quickly as possible:
1. Plan Ahead.
Eliminate excuses by plotting out your course in advance. If you want to wake up an hour earlier, go to bed on time, and dream about the invigorating workout or yoga class and the delicious breakfast that awaits you in the morning. And have your workout clothes already good to go when you do wake up.
2. Be Consistent.
Regularity reinforces itself. In the beginning it will be far too easy to say to yourself that you will do it tomorrow. You must fight that temptation. With a bit of time soon it will become easier to go to the gym after work rather than changing your mind, even if it’s raining or your colleagues are heading out for beer and pizza to watch the game.
3. Spot triggers.
Kicking a habit requires that you to notice what happens in the moments right before you reach for the bag of chips or pour your self a drink. Are you bored at home or arguing with your spouse?
4. Develop Substitutions.
Once you know your cues, you can choose a different response. Take a walk, have a fruit or just drink a glass of water.
5. Review Your Reasons.
Go over the reasons why you want to adopt your new behavior. Yes, it is hard right now. But keep the idea in the forefront of your mind of what you are aiming for. Remind yourself about how drinking water instead of soda will help you slim down, strengthen your bones, and save you money.
6. Personalize Your Goals.
While you’re contemplating your reasons, visualize your future self. Focus on what you have to gain instead of just pleasing others. Visualize and paint the picture in your mind of the better you that you need to be.
Advanced Strategies for Habit Formation
What if you’re tackling something as ambitious as managing diabetes or transforming your dead-end dating history?
These ideas Will Give You An Extra Boost:
1. Cut Yourself Some Slack.
Yes, for sure: You’re bound to slip up occasionally. Get over it, get back on track and moving forward.
2. Team Up.
No man is an island. You do not need to go at it alone. Enlist a friend so you can exchange support and encouragement with each other. Eat lunch with a colleague who is trying to eat right and lose weight too.
3. Write It Down.
Raise your awareness by keeping a journal about your campaign to stop swearing or to start flossing. Make note of what happens on the days you stick to your program compared to the days when you slip back into your old patterns.
4. Remove Temptations.
Eliminate the triggers that distract you from your objectives. Clear the junk food out of your kitchen or the cigarettes out of your car. Out of sight is out of mind.
But do have the good things ready and at hand. Need a snack? Then have the carrot sticks chilled and ready to go in the fridge.
5. Design Obstacles.
Make it difficult to give in to your old tendencies. Leave your credit cards at home to prevent impulsive shopping sprees. Turn off notifications when working on something. Turn off your phone completely, if needed.
6. Take a Break Or Go On Vacation.
Leave home for a while. Vacations are an ideal time to forge new habits because you can make a fresh start in different surroundings. Sit down to meditate each morning instead of becoming caught up in searching for lost socks or continually checking your email.
While working on something, take a 5-10 minute break every 30, 60 or 90 minutes. But get right back to work when the break is over and turn your devices off again.
Conclusion
Make daily exercise and eating right, or whatever it is that you want to do so easy so easy for yourself that you won’t even have to think about them. Positive habits make the beneficial and advantageous choices automatic so you’ll stick with them. You’ll also have more energy to devote to other challenges.
Now, are you ready to read how habits are formed?
Establishing A Habit: Research Reveals Best Strategy
To consistently improve yourself, you’ll occasionally want to make behavioral changes. Sometimes, this is easy. You decide what you want to alter and then do so. Other times, you might feel challenged in your efforts to change, even if the change is for the better.
So what can you do to make relatively permanent changes in your behavior, if you’re having trouble sticking to new ways of doing things? How do you go about establishing a new habit, something you do automatically without considering alternatives?
Forming Habits: The Current Research
We’ve all heard that we must repeat a behavior for a certain number of days to establish a habit. You might even have applied this information by marking off days on your calendar until you passed that last “magic” day, as you tried to form better, healthier and more productive practices in your life. However, recent research disputes what we once thought was necessary to form a habit.
Before your get discouraged, keep in mind that regardless of the amount of time that it takes to form good habits the underlying truth is that you still need to do something to change your life for the better. If a goal that your have requires changes in your habits, and the goal is a worthwhile goal, then does it really matter how long it takes for a good habit to take hold in your mind? Does it really matter if it takes three days, thirty days or even three years? We need to be doing something with our time. We need to be working towards a worthwhile goal. Success takes time. The only solution is to put in the time, regardless.
21 Days Is A Great Start To Habit Forming Success
Back in 2009, researcher Phillippa Lally and others at University College London determined that you actually must do an activity for 66 days in a row before it becomes a habit! They found that if you want to do a behavior automatically, you have to repeat it daily 66 times, consecutively.
Read The Full Phillippa Lally et al Study Here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.674
Getting to 21 days means that your are about a third of your way through it! Good for you! The cup of success is a third of the way full. You got this far, so keep going. Really, it comes down to how you look at it.
Crucial Cues For You.
Lally, et al also discovered that when first forming a habit, the behavior is cue-dependent. This means that in order to carry out a behavior you want to establish as a habit, you require exposure to a cue that serves to “remind” you to perform the action. Such cues can be either situational, (such as your environment or location) or contextual (based on something else that you do).
Cues are a crucial piece of the habit puzzle that you can use to help you effectively change or alter your habits.
- Situational example: When you rise in the morning and enter the bathroom, you probably see your toothbrush or your sink. Those objects serve as cues for you to brush your teeth.
- Contextual example: Every morning before you eat breakfast, you want to remember to eat a piece of fruit. Your cue for this is getting out of bed in the morning or reaching the time of day when you’re about to eat breakfast.
Also Relevant To Forming A Habit Is Consistency.
Although you can skip a day, the research recommends you go right back to performing the desired action. Even though the researchers admit that they can’t say exactly how many times in 66 days you can skip and still form a habit, they do stress if you’re too inconsistent, the behavior won’t become automatic.
How to Establish a Habit: The Quick List
Based on the research:
1. Specify Exactly What Habit You Want To Establish.
For example, “I want to increase my vegetable servings to 5 a day” or “I will walk 30 minutes a day.”
2. Commit Yourself To Repeating The Behavior Every Day For 66 Days.
If you already know you’re taking a vacation in 3 or 4 weeks, now might not be the time to work on forming a habit. It is best to start the exercise when you have a clear schedule.
3. Consider What Will Be Your Cue.
Will you see some object at home or will there be a time of day when you do something already? Just trusting yourself to remember to do the new behavior during your busy day may not be effective. Cues are potent reminders to help you as you work on bettering yourself.
4. Think About The Location.
The location at which you perform the behavior matters. Will you be at home when you do the new activity? At the office? If you can stick with the same location, at least until the habit forms, you’re more likely to be successful.
5. Be Consistent.
Refrain from skipping the behavior during the time of establishing the habit, if you can. If you do skip one day, get right back to it the next day.
6. Notice When The Activity Becomes Automatic.
You’ll know a habit has been formed when you’ve reached the point where your day seems lacking if you don’t perform the behavior. Success, at last!
Conclusion
Now you have science to apply when you want to establish a habit. No more guesswork! Just 66 days of dedication and reminders, and you’ll be well on your way to a better you.
We can change our habits. We need to know what we want to change and we need to be aware of what it is we will now do in relation to the cues around the habits to add or change.
Changing your habits or making new habits starts with awareness. Having a solid plan and commitment to working your plan is what you must do. Do what needs to be done.
More To Read. Learn. Be. Do. From The BAM! Series On Setting Goals And Changing Your Habits:
Figuring Out And Setting Goals For Your Life:
- Happy New Year! Let’s Make It A Good One.
- Start Fresh This Year
- 4 Strategies For Creating Weekly Goals To Keep You Focused This New Year
- Goals Are About Setting Your Priorities And Working “SMARTer”, Not Harder.
- 4 Key Steps To Design A Strategic Life, Apple Style
With Your Goals In Place Change Or Create The Habits For Your Success!
- Build Good Habits The Easy Way
- How Habits Are Formed: A Surprising Fact
- Create One Great Habit A Month And Have A Great Year!
- Your 30 Day Start To Break A Habit
Be A Man – Do The Right Thing. Take Control Of Your Life. Act Out The Right Habits For Your Success!
BAM!!! Be A Man! Do The Right Thing.
Be the DtRTy Guy!