Have you ever tried to start a new, healthy habit like drinking enough water or exercising daily? Or maybe you’ve tried to kick an old, unhealthy habit? If so, you’ve probably found the task tricker than you’ve imagined! It takes time to form a new habit, and too many people give up before they meet their goals. When you understand how long it takes to form a habit, it becomes mentally easier to stick with it until you see results.
So long does it take to form a habit? You may have heard people say it takes 21 days to form a habit. Other people say it takes 30 days or even 90 days. So which one is true?
The answer is...it depends!
People form new habits at different rates. Researchers from University College London studied how long it took people to form a new habit and they found it took an average of 66 days before a new habit was fully formed. The amount of time it took participants to form a new habit varied greatly. Some people formed a new habit in just 18 days. The longest it took before a participant fully incorporated a new habit into their routine was a whopping 254 days!
This seems like discouraging news. Sixty-six days is more than three times as long as the often cited 21 days to build a habit! It’s actually good news, though.
If you’ve ever tried to do something for three weeks or a month, but weren’t able to make the new habit an automatic part of your routine, now you know why: many people simply need longer than that to form a new habit. It’s not that you’re incapable of forming new habits, it’s just that you haven’t stuck with it for long enough yet.
A new habit is considered fully formed once the action becomes an automatic part of your routine. Until then, you need to remind yourself and make conscious effort to meet your goals. Fortunately, there are tools available to help you form new habits!
One of the simplest, most powerful ways to form a new habit is by using a habit tracker. You can buy a bullet journal and draw an elaborate tracker, but it’s way quicker and easier to grab a free printable habit tracker.
By using a habit tracker and filling in spaces whenever you meet your goal, you can help hold yourself accountable. Not wanting to see a glaring gap in your tracker can be a surprising amount of motivation! Posting your habit tracker somewhere you’ll see it helps remind you of your new habit until it comes second nature.
Another way to ensure success when forming a new habit is picking just one new habit at a time. If you try to wake up an hour early, drink two glasses of water as soon as you get out of bed, exercise for an hour, and eat a salad for lunch and each of these things is new to you, it will be too much. You only have so much willpower and concentration available! Instead, focus on one goal at a time. Typically it’s easier to add things on than take things away, so if you want to improve your diet, start by adding more vegetables and then taking away sweets, for example. Or add more water, then take away sodas.
A third way to help ensure success when you’re trying to form a new habit is by getting an accountability buddy. Knowing that someone else is aware of your goals, and will ask you how you’re doing with them, can help keep you on track!
Learning about a growth mindset and using growth mindset printables as reminders in your home or office can help, too. Cultivating a growth mindset helps you know that change and improvements are possible and that your hard work will pay off.
Finally, make sure to be kind with yourself. Know that slip-ups are perfectly normal and don’t stress if you miss a day. Just forgive yourself and keep working towards your new habit!
Now that you know how long it takes to form a new habit and have tips to help you succeed you’re ready to take on the new, healthy habit you’ve been wanting to form!
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