When you start building a new habit there is one thing I’m sure you want to know: ‘how long is it going to take me?’. It makes sense, when we start something, we want to know how long, and how much effort it’s going to take.
When we talk about building a habit, what we’re referring to is taking a certain behaviour (i.e meditation or reading) and repeating it enough times so it becomes automatic and requires little thought.
There is no wonder habits are so desired, imagine if behaviours that you want to do, like meditating every morning, became as easy as brushing your teeth. We’ve done this so many times it’s something we do automatically when we wake up or go to bed and requires little thought to do it.
Now, brushing our teeth isn’t massively helpful when we’re looking to work out how long it takes to build a habit because we’ve done it for many years. The good news, anything can become as automatic as brushing your teeth by doing it enough times. The bad news, there is no definite answer for how long it’s going to take.
While there are a number of claims out there, the time it takes to build a habit varies from person-to-person and how difficult the habit is. However, what still stays true is how a behaviour becomes more automatic (therefore, more of a habit) the more times you repeat it.
Instead of looking to define how long it takes, in terms of a time period, we should focus on how many repetitions it takes. This shifts the focus back to the behaviour itself and the more we do it, the more of a habit it becomes.
One study looked at how long it took participants to build a habit they performed in the same situation, once everyday. They measured the change in automaticity over time by asking the participants to record how automatic the behaviour felt everyday.
The study showed that there is an asymptotic relationship between repetitions and habit strength (automaticity) — meaning there is a steady increase in habit strength over time, until a plateau where the behaviour becomes as automatic as it can (further repetitions no longer increase automaticity).
Most of this is self explanatory, the more you repeat something the more of a habit it becomes. One important thing to highlight however, is how early repetitions result in a larger increase in automaticity than those later in the process, as the association between the situation and action is created. While all repetitions in the habit formation process are important, it emphasises how much the first repetitions of a new behaviour are responsible for making it more automatic.
The study also found how that when a participant missed a day, it did not materially affect the habit formation process. This demonstrates why we shouldn’t be so hung up on how many days it takes to build a habit or beat ourselves up if we miss a day. What’s important is we don’t continue to miss repetitions, as this is when the habit formation process becomes negatively affected. Miss once, but never miss twice.
So unfortunately, I don’t have the answer you so desperately craved. There is no definite amount of time it takes to build a habit. While habit-change programmes might be useful in helping you begin your journey, some habits are going to take longer than others.
While this is all relevant information for those who can successfully build a habit, it’s important to note that many won’t get there. How many times have you started building a new habit, started well but before long reverted back to your former ways?
It’s easy to start repeating a behaviour when we’re motivated but the challenge comes when this motivation starts to wear off. Do you have a strong enough process in place that will keep us repeating the behaviour, even when we don’t feel like it?
This is where the difference lies in successfully building a habit, or failing to do so. You can find out how to create a successful process using ‘The Ultimate Habit Guide’ which you can find on my website.
Website — https://www.melorium.co.uk/
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