Myth Buster: 21 Days to Make a Habit Change? Think again

We all know how difficult it can be to break a habit and create a new one. If you do a Google search on how long it takes to create a new habit you will get somewhere between 21 and 28 days. No one has really proven that to be the case. The ‘21 day myth’ may well come from a book published in 1960 by a plastic surgeon. Dr. Maxwell Maltz, who wrote a classic book called Psychocybernetics. He noticed that amputees took, on average, 21 days to adjust to the loss of a limb and he theorized that people take 21 days to adjust to any major life changes. The problem is that it really is not relevant to building a new habit.

Psychological research on how habits are formed was recently published in the European Journal of Social Psychology  by Phillippa Lally and his colleagues from University College London. The question was asked after how long did it take for running 15 minutes a day  to become automatic? The answer was, after about sixty six days, it seemed to become a habit.  So it seems as if the 21 day rule of thumb is unrealistic and we need to think more in terms of 3 months with repetition being the key. I would add to that it is best not attempting something too big so that you do not set yourself up to fail.

The research also suggested that:

• Missing a one day did not reduce the chance of forming a habit.
• Some people took much longer than the others to form their habits, perhaps suggesting some people are ‘habit-resistant’.
• Other types of habits may well take much longer…like those that involve addictive substances.

So how do you get less ‘habit resistant’? It comes down to willpower. Something you should know about willpower is, research that conducted by two professors at Stanford including, Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford, is the author of “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”confirmed that your willpower is limited by what you think about it. When you succeed and resist temptation, you feel strong, if you feel or think you are weak, you will be that way too. Their conclusion and I might add my experience has been that “willpower is in your head.” You are what you think and believe.

I have found the key to changing how you think is a mindfulness practice I developed I call the pausing technique. In between the action and your thought to act is a space. Your willpower lies in what you do with that space. To learn more read the blog  I wrote on this. This why I use hypnosis as well, it helps to increase your will to change. Check out the home study program downloads in the shop area for one that matches what you want to change.