Give yourself 66 days
Learning a new habit is difficult, takes time and takes persistence. How can you change habits once they are part of your daily routine? And how much time does that take? With this handy step-by-step plan you can make your (good) intention concrete and achievable.
You’ve probably heard it before: it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. At least that’s what many self-help gurus on the internet are saying. Unfortunately. Those 21 days stemmed from totally misinterpreted research by a plastic surgeon. This research was not about behavioral change, but about patients undergoing plastic surgery. It took them an average of 21 days to get used to the appearance changes after surgery.
more reliable research indicates that habit change in eating, drinking or exercise habits takes an average of 66 days. By then you can call such a habit a reasonable automatism. To really take root, a habit takes even longer on average. How long varies per person and type of habit, but varies between 18 and 254 days.
Practice makes perfect
The time required mainly depends on the type of behavior that the test subjects wanted to change, according to the aforementioned study. People who wanted to drink a glass of water after breakfast had acquired this habit within 20 days. Getting into the habit of eating fruit after lunch took as much as twice as long. A 10-minute walk after lunch became a habit after 50 days. However, the subject who wanted to do 50 stretching exercises after coffee time still had not converted this into habitual behavior after 84 days. It was clear, however, that if someone regularly repeats the behavior from the start, the chance of forming a habit is greatest. So practice really makes perfect.
Why do you want to change your behavior?
First of all, it is important to be clear to yourself why you want to change your behavior. Do you want to change your behavior because someone else wants you to? Or do you want to change your behavior because you want to? A new habit is much better maintained when it comes from within and you really stand behind it. For example, use the SMART method to clearly understand what you want to change and how.
– Is the Specifically? A good habit to be learned is concrete and unambiguous. “I will eat 250 grams of vegetables every day”.
– Is the Measurable? There is no arguing about a measurable goal. It makes your progress visible.
– Is the Acceptable? You need to know why this goal is important to you, so you will be less likely to give up along the way.
– Is the Realistic? Only a goal that is attainable for you will give you a chance of success.
– Is the Time-bound? Set a deadline for your intention. A dream with a deadline is a goal and a goal can be achieved step by step.
What should you do to change your behavior?
In the example of ‘eating 250 grams of vegetables’ it is of course quite clear. But if you want to stop smoking, for example, you will also have to look for distraction for the moments when you crave a cigarette. And perhaps the first time avoiding social occasions where many smokers come.
Does it make sense to break your goal down into small goals?
Of course, that doesn’t work with ‘stopping smoking’. But if your goal is ‘exercise more’, it can help to build this up in small steps. If you want to start exercising for an hour five days a week out of the blue, then the chances that you will keep it up are not that great. Start with an hour twice a week. When you notice that such a sub-goal is going well for you, you can set up a new one; for example, exercise for an hour three times a week instead of twice.
Recognize what you want to stop
New patterns have to wear in. It helps you to first recognize what you want to stop. Then you start learning the new habit. Recognizing the old habit then only serves as a reminder. Suppose you get the urge to show the old behavior again, what do you do? With an ‘if-then plan’ you formulate exactly what you will do if you find yourself in a certain situation. “If I don’t want to get off the couch, I call my sports buddy who can stimulate me extra.”
Other tips:
- Inform those around you about the behavior you want to change. This works well as a stick behind the door.
- Reward yourself. For example, if you have eaten 250 grams of vegetables per day for a week, you can buy yourself a magazine.
- Push on. Behavioral change often evokes resistance in the beginning. But at some point it often becomes much easier and you don’t have to think about it much.
Judson Brewer gave an inspiring TED talk about breaking bad habits (English, subtitles).
