Has anyone heard the saying if you can stick with something for 21 days it will become a routine and you are most likely ready to incorporate in into your life? I wonder if this is true or not. I think things get easier after you do them for a couple of weeks but routine?? What do you chicks and roosters think?
I've heard 30 days. Speaking for myself, small changes work better. I'm a lot more likely to do what to my brain feels like a manageable change, then when I feel comfortable make another change, etc. Actually, once I gain momentum making changes, the easier and faster I can make changes.
That may be true when it comes to some things but I don't think necessarily with weight loss. If that was the case, people wouldn't lose and then gain the weight back.
I don't know who came up with that, but I am sure it is wrong. Creating a new habit takes a long time, especially if you are replacing an old habit. It certainly doesn't account for setbacks or well, life. Certainly, 21 days of exercise or eating right is a great accomplishment, but that doesn't always mean we can keep doing it - there are always things that interfere and interrupt.
I'm skeptical of such general claims with such specific numbers -- who came up with that? For what kind of habits? What kind of people?
I agree with some of the previous posters -- doing something for 21 days may help make you see how you can do it a nd incorporate it into your life, but I doubt it becomes automatic or fully habitual for quite a while -- at least not based on what we know about how the brain works. And even after that, it's not permanent, or we'd never lose our GOOD habits.
After doing a new behavior for 21 straight days (no breaks), you may feel more used to it and less awkward about it, but I think it takes far longer for it to become habit or to feel "natural".
I'm right-handed, for example. I doubt I'd be able, in 21 days or even 21 weeks, to feel completely comfortable and natural writing with my left hand, but I'd probably be much better at it than I am now. I might even be able to make it legible. But I don't think it would feel natural for me, and the moment I was able to get back to my right hand, I'd probably do it automatically.
Then again, perhaps one could argue that right-handed- or left-handedness isn't a "habit" but a trait. Who knows?
Based on my own experience, I agree with the statement. I was a heavy smoker for 30 years and tried to quit numerous times, but always resumed after a couple of days. When I became ill with pneumonia in 2000 and wasn't physically able to smoke for 3 weeks I found it easier to quit for good. I figure it was because the nicotine was out of my system and I had adjusted to not automatically lighting up whenever I wanted. I found the same happened when I joined Weight Watchers. The first few weeks were **** (even though I lost weight). Yes, I'd say that after 3 weeks of eating breakfast every morning, consuming lots of veggies, fruit and lean meat, and, particularly, not filling myself with sugar and fat at will, I had settled into a routine that I've found comfortable to live with for a few years now. Sure, the old habits creep back from time to time (usually during holidays) and there have been times when I've gone off track for months at a time and find it difficult to get back to business, but when I finally do, I find it much easier after the 3rd week or so. I have a very dear friend here who does really well for a couple of weeks and then tends to lose motivation. I stress to her that if she can string together three good weeks, it'll get easier and she'll truly be on her way!
After smoking for 22 years straight, then spending 5 years quitting and starting, I am on day 76 without a cigarette. I am NO WHERE near starting a new habit. I think this is one of those sayings that's supposed to motivate us. Maybe if you were 5 or 10 yrs old, it would work.
Well, regardless of whether it's now a habit or something you have to remind yourself of daily, I say HAT'S OFF to you both for quitting smoking!
As an ex-smoker myself (broke a nearly 15 year pack-a-day (and then some) habit back in the early 80s and haven't had a puff since), I *know* how big an accomplishment that is! Congrats to you both! And it *does* get easier with time .
Well, it certainly isn't true for me. I've been losing weight for more than a year and it still requires a meal by meal effort to stay on plan. I actually enjoy eating right and exercising but if I stopped paying attention I'd be right back where I started in no time. So, if by habit they mean something becomes second nature (like counting calories is for me now) then, yeah, I see that. But if they mean something becomes natural or instinctive after 21 days, I have to beg to differ.
I don't automatically do the right things just because it's over 21 days, but I find that it makes me feel more comfortable about doing them. For example I know I can get through the day without chocolate because I've done it for the past 21 days. Or I get used to getting up to exercise before work and know it's not going to wipe me out for the day. I don't do it regardless and still have to think about it, but the knowledge that I have been doing it consistently negates some of the arguments I use not to do it when I'm in a lazy mood.
Yes - With some things its true I beleive. I made a deal with myself to make my bed each day after brushing my teeth. After 2 months it automatic. Sometimes, I make my bed and don't remember doing it. I think its true.
I think that if you are trying to create a new habit (intentionally trying) that you can do it if you are consistent for 21 days. I don't believe that is automatic. If you are resisting that "new habit" then you can just as easily sabotage it. I think after 21 days it could begin to be easier to remember to do the new habit you are trying to create, but I don't think that means you can just forget about it once you've done it for that long, and expect it to just continue.
For instance I have certain things that have become habit, from consistently doing them. Not doing them "feels wrong". For example, low carb. I've been eating low carb foods mostly since January. On days when I "cheat" or eat something that isn't low carb, my mind rings a bell and tells me I'm not living up to what I want to be doing. It doesn't mean that I can never make a different choice, and it doesn't mean that I couldn't just as easily go off plan and make high carb choices for the rest of my life if I choose to. It just means that I have a "weird feeling" of worry or something when I start changing that habit.
21 Days? Fact or Fiction
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