How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
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How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
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Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#2Oh, that kind of habit. The good kind. It can take much less than 1 day to form a bad habit. I wonder how that asymmetry really is - were ancient humans less exposed to addictive substances and had no need to evolve a way to stop that? I have no idea what I'm talking about so, I'll end the comment here.
Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#3>"If you’re trying a new diet, attempting to quit smoking or changing any daily routine, don’t expect new habits to be created in a week, or two or even three. Research suggests that the process requires 66 days (on average) and up to 8 months."
Something about the title suggested it was going to be much less than 21 days; maybe it's the domain name biasing my reading of the title.
Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#4Oh, that kind of habit. The good kind. It can take much less than 1 day to form a bad habit. I wonder how that asymmetry really is - were ancient humans less exposed to addictive substances and had no need to evolve a way to stop that? I have no idea what I'm talking about so, I'll end the comment here.
My theory is that we don't come from a history of plenty or safety, so, in a pre-historical sense, if something feels good that's supposed to be the signal to keep doing it because it is going to go away and you can't really get too much of it.
We were supposed to overeat because we wouldn't often get a chance. If we could be lazy and survive, then we should be lazy and preserve those calories because a time was going to come when we couldn't. It's the modern world that has all those natural predispositions screwed up. We can enjoy ourselves to excess in ways that we would never be able to in the wild, which then puts us in danger.
Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#5>"If you’re trying a new diet, attempting to quit smoking or changing any daily routine, don’t expect new habits to be created in a week, or two or even three. Research suggests that the process requires 66 days (on average) and up to 8 months." Something about the title suggested it was going to be much less than 21 days; maybe it's the domain name biasing my reading of the title.
I had the same reaction. I think I'm just used to seeing headlines oversell their point.
Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#6It took me a few days to become a smoker, and a few weeks to get to the point of not wanting to smoke again (some decades later).
It took me a week or so to start having a healthier breakfast and it become part of my routine, and I've been trying to have healthier lunches for years now (and still regularly fail, normally because at lunchtimes I'm tired, stressed and yearning for comfort foods like sandwiches and snack bars).
I think anyone who believed exactly 21 days was the magic number for all habits, for all people, was grossly naive.
But what I do find is that after 21 days it's no longer novel, it's just what you do, if somebody asks you what you do about X, you no longer say "I'm trying this new thing around X, and...", you tell them your new habit. Identifying that habit as part of who you are is key to it being sticky. For some people, and for some habits, that might be true after a week, or it might take a year, but it's an important step, and if you want that habit to stick you should get to it as fast as you can.
Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#7B.J. Fogg makes this point in his book Tiny Habits. And his point *is* that you can form a habit in much less than 21 days, let alone 66.
This whole question revolves around the effort/reward ratio of a behavior. When people talk about ~21 days, they're talking about doing a hard thing until it's second nature and seems easy.
But there are other ways to make something seem easy, and there is another component in the ratio: reward. That is, even if effort stays the same, you can wire a habit by making the behavior more rewarding. (This is why people are able to get addicted to a substance after one dose -- because they can't forget the state they entered ... and it was so easy to get there.)
So the takeaway here is the you can wire habits by decreasing the amount of effort to do something that you think is good for you -- eg if you want to hydrate more, place a glass near the sink so you drink water when you get out of bed in the morning -- *and* by increasing the reward. The whole trick is getting the ratio right.
Cliche Silicon Valley example. I did an ice plunge, and it gave me a day long plunger's high. I didn't need to plunge for 21 days to get the habit. I started doing it 3 times a week after that, because I knew what I had to do to feel good.
This actually gets to something Huberman calls "duration-path-outcome". Getting clarity on what you have to do (path); how long it will take (duration); and what the payoff is (outcome), can do wonders for motivation. Confusion kills action (and for that matter, all deals, since habits are just deals we make with ourselves). If you can get clarity, reduce the effort, and increase the amount of reward and your confidence in it, I think you can get to new habits really quickly.
Fwiw, I wrote a little bit about forming habits here: https://vonnik.substack.com/p/state-changes-work-and-presenc...
Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#8It took me 3 days to fully drop sugar from coffee, at 17 I think. Never liked sweets and pastry, though, but dropping every sugar drink took me more, a couple weeks, specially Nestea.
Edit: took me 1 day to drop the remaining sugar, and plants in general.
Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#9It only takes a couple of days for a habit to stop, too. It's real easy to go from "I am a person who does this thing every day" to "I last did it half a week ago and I dunno".
(Addictions are a different story of course.)
Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)
#10>"If you’re trying a new diet, attempting to quit smoking or changing any daily routine, don’t expect new habits to be created in a week, or two or even three. Research suggests that the process requires 66 days (on average) and up to 8 months." Something about the title suggested it was going to be much less than 21 days; maybe it's the domain name biasing my reading of the title.
I agree that the title implies (or even declares) that it takes fewer than 21 days. I'd argue that the articles says that it does take those 21 days, plus many more, making the title deceptive.