The 21 Day Myth & 6 Ways Supercharge Habit Formation
So, if I forgoe Ben & Jerry’s for 21 days, I’ll be able to abstain from icecream for the remainder of my life, right?
Popular culture in the self-improvement world would have me believe so.
The truth of the matter is that it takes a bit more than 3 weeks to destabilise a deeply ingrained habit. Especially one so delicious.
The ‘21-days-to-form-a-habit’ myth began thanks to a rather prolific cosmetic surgeon from the 1950’s named Dr. Maxwell Malts.
In the early days of his career, he observed that it took roughly 21 days for someone to get used to their new nose job (or whatever other procedure they had undergone). Later in life he went on to publish the highly acclaimed Psycho-Cybernetics in which he stated:
“These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.”
This is the phrase that has been misinterpreted so frequently that when the well-intentioned masses set out to form a new habit the expectation is gauranteed success in under a month.
While this is not necessarily true, what it does shed light on is the number one rule in habit formation:
Consistency
Habits are merely reinforced behaviours that have become automated due to repitition. They also constitute between 40–45% of our daily behaviours.
The question becomes, what is a more realistic timeframe to keep in mind when wanting to form a habit?
A much more recent study conducted by Dr. Phillipa Lally and her associates seeks to enlighten us on this subject. The study followed roughly 100 volunteers and monitored them over the course of 12 weeks to observe habit formation in modern day life.
For the majority of these participants, it took 66 days to ‘reach the plateau of automaticity’ with whatever new daily behaviour they were seeking to incorporate.
Automaticity is critically important in habit formation.
Think for a moment about the act of brushing your teeth. If you value your oral hygiene like the majority of functioning adults, it’s likely you’re committed to brushing those teethy pegs twice a day.
You don’t wake up on Saturday morning and think, “Oh, you know, I’ve been so good this week, I’m just going to skip brushing my teeth today.”
The behaviour is part of your routine, effortless and automatic — no cheat days required.
The good news is that you can harness the power of consistency and automaticity for just about any new habit that you want to form to the point where it becomes as non-negotiable as brushing your teeth.
Get Clear on ‘Why’
Let’s get acquianted with the ‘habit loop’:
Get curious about the why behind the cue. There is usually a deeper cause beyond surface-level impressions.
According to James Clear, the majority of our bad habits are caused by two things: stress and/or boredom. While you don’t necessarily explicitly feel these emotions now, there may have been a time in the origins of your behaviour where this was the case.
Figure out the root cause of a bad habit and write down exactly why you want to make a change.
The quickest route to eliminating a bad habit is by directly replacing it with another behaviour.
Get clear on what you want that to be and why so that you can personalise the routine and reward accordingly.
Alter Frequency & Track
While the new research has us looking down the barrell of a 66 day commitment, this will still be highly individualised to the kind of habit.
- Is the new behaviour required hourly, daily, weekly, monthly?
- How often are you confronted with temptation?
66 days is a good generic benchmark but do some tweaking where necessary.
To help you keep track of your progress, download an app called Streaks. It lets you personalise your habits and set the frequency of their completion.
Believe me, it’s a nice little dopamine hit when you see that number get bigger.
Environment Is Everything
Willpower is overrated.
Leon Ho of Lifehack.org, recommends putting a system in place first. This allows the creation of the right conditions in your mind and environment whereby success is gauranteed.
Your willpower is the backup plan, not Plan A.
- Is your weakness Doritos? Don’t put them in the shopping trolley
- Do you find yourself not going to the gym because it’s a 20 minute drive away? Sign up to one 5 minutes from your home or on your commute to/from work
- Mindlessly scrolling through Instagram at 2am? Leave your phone on the other side of the room when you go to bed
Alter your physical environment so that it is supportive of a new habit and makes it seriously inconvinient to indulge in the old one you’re trying to break.
Accountability and Social Support
Take advantage of the fact we are social creatures who are (generally) geared to seek the approval and appraisal of those we care about. According to ZenHabits, a supportive social group is the built-in positive feedback mechanism that will quadruple your chances of success.
Tell your dad, tell your barista, tell your boss, tell your Twitter followers.
Tell anyone who you think will help you stay accountable and who you don’t want to disappoint.
A supportive social group is a carrot & stick in one. They’ll cheer you on to keep going, but also tell you to check yo’self before you wreck yo’self when you reach for that beer instead of getting your butt to the basketball court.
Keystone Habits
Heard of habit-change burnout? Probably not because I made it up just then.
But if you find yourself getting overwhelmed with all the changes you’re attempting to make if your life, choose a single keystone habit and put all your energy into it, first and foremost.
What is a keystone habit?
It is a habit that lays the foundation for a chain effect to occur. Charles Duhigg dives into this in his book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.
An example of a keystone habit would be getting 8 hours of sleep each night. Think about all the other areas that this affects:
- You have more energy to walk your dog the following morning = makes exercising easier
- Your apetite and mood are aqudately regulated = reduces emotional eating
- You say no to kick-ons with tequila shots because you have a date with your duvet = saves you money & keeps your liver happy
- Your memory and focus are at their peak = learning that new language is a whole lot less effortful
Other examples of keystone habits are meditation, making your bed every morning, saving a percentage of your pay, food journalling, eating family dinners and regular exercise.
Master a keystone habit and everything else you want to achieve will become much, much easier.
There is so, so much more information out there about this particular area of self-improvement, I’ve only just scratched the surface. But be wary of any advice that promises a quick-fix — they usually are too good to be true.
Also, you’ll ‘fail’ every now and then depending on your definition of that during this journey.
Luckily, Dr. Lally’s research indicates that the occasional slip up has little to no effect on your overall success if you’re willing to recommit.
