{"id":43592,"date":"2016-09-16T07:33:39","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T15:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=43592"},"modified":"2017-05-27T08:48:16","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T16:48:16","slug":"how-long-it-really-takes-to-form-a-new-habit-and-how-to-get-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-long-it-really-takes-to-form-a-new-habit-and-how-to-get-started\/","title":{"rendered":"How Long It Really Takes To Form a New Habit (and how to get started)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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21 days.<\/p>\n

21 days and that\u2019s all it takes to form any habit in the world. This is the most common piece of advice you\u2019ll find about habits. It\u2019s plastered all over popular psychology websites, self-improvement columns, and is even the premise for quite a few apps.<\/p>\n

Seems easy enough. Just do anything for 21 days and magically it should stick. But let\u2019s take a closer look\u2026<\/p>\n

How many days does it really take?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, for anyone who\u2019s actually tried to form a new habit, especially a more elusive one \u2013 like exercise for instance \u2013 21 days isn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n

I actually felt pretty down on myself after looking back and thinking,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a heck of a long longer than 21 days for me to start exercising regularly. I must suck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well thankfully, I wasn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n

In 2009, a study was done in the European Journal of Social Psychology<\/em> where each participant chose an eating, drinking, or other behavior to carry out daily following a unique cue. For example, one glass of water after breakfast. This activity was to be performed for 12 weeks.<\/p>\n

The results? The average time it took for a behavior to become a habit was 66 days. <\/strong>But the real kicker was the range of the data. Some participants automated their behavior after just 18 days while others took up to 254 days!<\/strong><\/p>\n

At first, the data may seem disheartening. At second glance however, it strikes me as strangely comforting.\u00a0 It reminds us that habit, much like success, isn\u2019t a one size fits all. How long it takes to form a new habit varies wildly, depending on:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The type of behavior trying to be turned into habit, and<\/li>\n
  2. The unique individual forming the habit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Which makes sense. When starting from scratch, drinking one glass of water each day is obviously going to be easier than writing 1000 words daily. And someone who has already trained their willpower (yes, willpower can be trained) will have an easier time forming a habit than someone just starting to develop better habits.<\/p>\n

    Now for the good news\u2026<\/p>\n

    Even though habits follow wildly different timelines to being formed, they all follow the same general framework to get there. So how does one stick to a habit when it could possibly take 254 days to become routine? Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n

    What makes habits so elusive.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    To start forming habits, it\u2019s important to understand what makes them so hard to stick. It could be any one of the following reasons:<\/p>\n