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Can You Change Your Habits in 21 Days?
June 28th, 2007 by StephenPosted in GTD, GTD with ADD, Goal Setting, The Examined Life |
The Myth of the 21 Days
In an article I posted last week I mentioned that it takes 21 days of consistently performing an action to create a new habit. This piece of advice was questioned by a reader who wanted to know the citation for the research on this subject. As it turns out, my cursory scanning of a few online sources resulted in making a mistake. This mistake is made at hundreds and thousands of other articles on the internet - it is not true that it takes 21 days to create a new habit! The primary source for this research is a single study, by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, that was done in conjunction with amputee therapy.
I have to admit that I fell for the conventional wisdom on this topic, most of which points back to the research of Dr. Maltz. There is an entire industry based on “Changing Your Life” in 3 weeks, and this industry is unsupported by any real science. I have done a lot of surfing and reading over the past few days, tracking down the best information on habits.
I discovered a lot of duplication, and a lot of advice unsupported by any research. The most interesting discovery was that the best articles and columns to be found do not mention a time-limit for setting new habits. In fact, I found a researcher who has dedicated the greater part of her career to studying the brain and the neurological effects of learning new things.
Real Research on Changing Habits
Ann Graybiel and her group at the McGovern Institute at MIT have done extensive laboratory work with rats and measuring the “activity of neurons in the striatum, which is in a key position to be involved in this habit-forming business, because it is the main part of the BG [basal ganglia] that receives the reward-related dopamine input on the one hand, and it gets massive inputs from the neocortex on the other hand.“[1]
Important neural activity patterns in the basal ganglia change when habits are formed, change again when habits are broken, but quickly re-emerge when something rekindles an extinguished habit–which originally took great effort to learn.
“We knew that neurons can change their firing patterns when habits are learned,” Graybiel comments, “but it is startling to find that these patterns reverse when the habit is lost, only to recur again as soon as something kicks off the habit again.”[2]
This research has given Graybiel a great deal of insight into how the physical processes of learning take place. It also shows that habits, or new behaviors, are difficul for the brain to create. Once formed, however, these behaviors and their related neural pathways are easily accessed when the conditions are encountered again:
In the Graybiel experiments, rats learned that there was a chocolate reward at one end of a T-maze. When the rats were learning, the neurons were active throughout the maze run, as if everything might be important.
[…]
Then the researchers removed the reward, making the cues meaningless … The rats eventually stopped running (gave up the habit), and the new habit pattern of the brain cells disappeared. But as soon as the researchers returned the reward, the learned neural pattern, with the beginning and ending spikes, appeared again. [3]
Where do you find the best advice?
This research by Graybiel seems to be the most salient on the topic of learning and habits. It is important to note that not once in any of the articles on these experiments does Graybiel mention a time frame for establishing these neural patterns in humans. In fact, most of the other articles that I found on “medical” information websites were very careful not to mention how long it may take to establish new habits.
I did find a few articles about changing habits that had some tips in common, which one could follow if they were serious about changing their behavior. Here is an example, from the AARP website :
Behavioral change experts generally agree on several tips for habit-changers from 18 to 88:[edited for length, Ed.]
- Figure out why you want to change. An internal motivation is preferable to an external one (my doctor told me to lose weight). But to start with, even cosmetic goals will do.
- Use your life experience to your advantage. Catalog the attempts
you’ve made at change and why they’ve failed. Then apply what you’ve learned. Don’t plan to work out at six each morning if you haven’t risen before eight for the last five decades.- Substitute a new behavior for the old one. Exercise is a great replacement for smoking or eating. And even a less-than-virtuous substitute is better than a plainly bad habit.
- Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If the prospect of trying to lose 20 pounds paralyzes you, start small. Walking for 20 minutes a day and consuming just 100 fewer calories daily—that’s one tablespoon of mayonnaise—adds up to a 20-pound weight loss over the course of a year for an average-size person, according to Baylor’s John Foreyt.
- Get support. Having friends and family on board is critical for most
successful behavior change. Let those close to you know what you’re planning to do and how it might affect your behavior. Conversely, stay away from people (including spouses!) who have an interest in undermining your efforts.- Anticipate obstacles. Develop a plan for what you’re going to do when the bread basket arrives at the restaurant table. Take a walk, order a veggie plate, or ask the waiter to take it away once others have been served.
- Don’t quit trying. Most people don’t succeed in changing on their first try, says Wilkins of Cedars-Sinai. “You never want to give up because you don’t know if it’s the third time, the fourth time, or the fifth time where you will succeed.”
Anandra George is a life coach who advocates a similar list of tips for making changes:
How Change Happens:
- Self-examination, then Pre-cognition. When you begin to look at the pattern differently, you have the opportunity to recognize more positive ways to interact. In time, you also begin to recognize what you’re thinking about right before you step into the pattern again. Here you can see where your thinking is incorrect, and seek to correct it with more positive beliefs.
- Cessation, then more Self-realization. Next time, you recognize the thoughts that precede the pattern, and you begin to stop just before you repeat your pattern. When you’re stopped, you have the opportunity to truly choose differently. You recognize more positive ways think about the problem and better ways to interact. At this stage, you attempt to do it better, though it’s often clumsy at first.
- New Patterning and Practice. As you find the beliefs and actions that work much better for you, you establish a new pattern by practicing it every time the situation presents itself.
- More Practice, then True Change. By practicing your positive response over and over again, you transform yourself from within.
Being mindful of making real changes in your habits
Here are my suggestions for changing your habits:
- Making important changes in your life is not to be undertaken lightly. Once you make the decision, commit yourself to it.
- Find a partner in change to help you through the tough spots.
- The research that you do before starting is important and needs to be thorough. Don’t believe everything that you find on the Internets!
- Expect it to be difficult, and prepare rewards for yourself when you make real progress.
- Do not be afraid to ask for help! We have an excellent resource in our community, as many of the “Productivity Bloggers” have other expertise as well. (For example, both Rob and Ariane have both pitched in to contribute on this subject.)
Please share your own experiences with changing habits in the Comments.
Get involved with the 
June 28th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Great Article! Especially love the quote from AARP - Their advice is right on. Your readers may also be interesting in my article discussing the 4 phases of Change and whether on not a change is worth it article at: http://www.neatliving.net/2007/06/is-it-worth-try.html
June 28th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
I’m really glad you did this research - I’ve also been looking for and questioning the statistic. Much appreciated!
June 29th, 2007 at 12:58 am
Stephen, thanks for the time in doing some research on this interesting topic!
I have additional advice:
- keep the purpose and benefits of the habit change in mind (successful outcome); this is the goal you’re working towards;
- take babysteps: small, concrete steps towards the final destination and take one step each and every day.
Great work on the article!
June 29th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Thank you for the kind words, I was mildly surprised to find that the conventional wisdom was so very wrong on this issue. I am considering making this a bigger project. Please stay tuned.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Good read, I remember someone saying to me once that you should work out how many months/weeks you have been doing the bad habit and that will tell you how long it will take to break it. Again, no scientific basis for this assumption, just thought it would be interesting to add to the topic :)
Organize IT
June 30th, 2007 at 5:01 am
[…] Stephen over at HD BizBlog has done some research about the commonly held belief you can change an habit in 21 […]
June 30th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Great article - I like the research you have done to take this onwards. I’m glad our initial “conversation” has had such a productive outcome - this is really where blogging has so much to contribute.
July 9th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Yes - this is a very good article. I was just looking up - how long does it take to change a habit.
I am in the process of changing a very strong ADDICITIVE habit - to quit smoking. I am making a decision - a choice on a daily, hourly, maybe even every five minutes to NOT smoke a cigarette. I read a book that it is up to you. You and you alone. Food, it’s around the corner at the grocery - so you beter just stock up on healthy foods - so are cigaretttes - so if you want to throw them out then do, but you can go get them whenever you want. As for the smoking I have 2 cartons 1 full pack and 5 cigarettes staring right at me. If I want to make the choice to smoke I can simply pick one up - it has now been since June 19th. I have to be willing to go through the bad feelings and the withdrawl of the nicotine. I also then for the rest of my life have to continue to make this decision. All it takes is just one cigarette and you are right back to the same bad addictition “habit of 20 to 30 to 40 per day. You can’t just have one. It just isn’t realistic. Understand that - you can’t just have one NO MATTER WHAT and you might have a shot at changing a “habit”/quitting an addicition and you will not pick up that cigarette. It addition, I’m currently going through a lot of stress. It says to never quit if depressed, etc. But you know sometimes, you can’t just depend on drugs to get you through. For me I’m trying very hard to make a stand. NO ONE, especially cigarette companies are going to live my life for me.
July 10th, 2007 at 6:56 am
Hi Shelly, I wish you all the luck and willpower that you can muster! Quitting smoking is very hard, primarily because you have to want to. No one else can make you do it, like you said “you can simply pick one up”.
Try some of those sugar-free lollipops, to give your hands something to do when you feel like having a smoke. Keep it up!
July 11th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I don’t have the reference handy, but I did run across an article that indicated for people with ADHD it can take as long as 6 months to establish a consistent habit. I know it definitely takes me much longer than 21 days to get a new habit. Even when I’m highly motivated and it’s something I very much want to do. It’s that forgetting thing. I have to plaster stickies everywhere for many weeks.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
I have heard a number of times that there are researchers out there that state that the duration is 6 weeks in order for a consistent action to be called a habit. Have you come across anything that supports this claim of 6 weeks?
I’d love to hear more about this time-limit for habit formation. Thanks.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I was not actually able to find any information on how long it takes, it seems to vary among individuals and circumstances.
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:32 am
[…] Smith: “I wrote an entire post about this and here are the important tips. 1) Making important changes in your life is not to be […]
September 11th, 2007 at 5:10 am
[…] (or three) about the role of habits in your life. I have written previously about the myth of changing a habit in 21 days, so I was intrigued. In their “quest for understanding“, Jenny and Erin […]
September 26th, 2007 at 2:45 am
Hello All,
I was reading around some of the posts here and I found interesting things that you guys talk about, I just made a blog about quitting smoking resources and ideas that you might want to check out.
If someone is interested in this topic just go to; http://endthehabitnow.blogspot.com and let me know what you think.
Thanks in advance.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:02 am
I finally landed upon this article after reading countless “it is widely accepted that,” “it is well known,” “research has shown,” and my personal favorite “it is said,”… ugh, I can’t stand speculation and assumption. The whole 21 day thing sounded so promising at first; real numbers, quantifiable neurology… such an enticing idea. What a let down. I work in the bodywork/alternative medicine field, but I am a strong believer in the scientific method and proper epistemological methods. Among the many things I’ve studied (physiology, anatomy, kinesiology, and especially myology), I have not been able to find anything that gives concrete answers about habit formation, neurology, and time frames, at least not psychologically/mentally speaking. However, I do know a few relevant tidbits that might give people a little bit more to quantify so they can measure their progress. . . hope you don’t mind the rant/advice that you’ve inspired ;)
First is that neurological reprogramming happens second by second, minute by minute, and all the time, which is a double edged sword but can be used as an effective tool when properly understood. Ask any professional athlete or musician what it takes to become so talented, and you tend to get the response we’ve come to expect: “practice practice practice.” To many people that translates as “work work work.” It doesn’t have to feel like work, and in fact it doesn’t, not when done with mindfulness. While its true that your mindset or attitude is of great importance, half the battle (at least) is step number one, and if you simply get used to taking that step regardless of how motivated you are, more often than not motivation kicks in all by itself. Its a bit like forcing yourself to roll out of bed in the morning to go take a shower; the idea of leaving that soporific paradise of blankets and pillows can seem as attractive joining the nude polar bear club - but the second you get in the hot shower you’re happy you did. What I’ve personally found is that most habits have a physical component attached to them, even reading or studying or meditating, and if we learn to train our bodies the mind has a much easier time of getting on board and keeping a good morale. The really good news is that our bodies are comparatively easy to train, even if you are a clumsy, fumbling 2 left-footed flamingo. Each and every time you try a new movement or augment an old one, you’ve already begun the reprogramming, not just physically but psychologically. Stretching for example, is one of the best ways to increase coordination and proprioception. When stretching correctly (as with just about any exercise) you actually disrupt the junction where your nerves meet your muscles and connective tissues, as well as disrupting and simultaneously aligning the muscle fibers and connective tissues. The result is that as the muscle rebuilds/realigns, it memorizes its new length and is able to keep it, and in a poetry of symbiosis the nervous system follows; as the neuro-muscular junction is rebuilt, it not only sends new signals back to the spinal cord and brain, it sends more of them because more connections have formed. So now your body is making new connections and getting smarter, and as it does, your brain recognizes the new connections and makes still more of its own, and you get more and more conscious perception and control of your body. As one might imagine, as these new neural pathways in your brain are created they cross-reference, not just with each other but different parts of your brain - so as your body gets smarter, so does your brain. This phenomenon is happening, to varying degrees, during every activity we engage in, and the more activities we engage in the more connections that are made. Just as slumping and having poor posture leads to more slumping and poorer posture, good habits lead to more good habits. Going back to the athletes and musicians, practice for them isn’t generally tedious, and is usually enjoyable for a number of reasons. One is that they associate practicing with observable progress, productivity, and an worthwhile challenge, so it isn’t just a boring routine. The second is that the body and brain have learned to release endorphins and other positive chemicals during the activities. A third is that they have a mountain of evidence behind them proving that they are able to succeed. And a fourth is that as they have learned to become more coordinated and or practiced, it has become progressively easier to take on different challenges as well as perform what they already know flawlessly, expressively, or in new ways. There are a bunch of other things that happen as well, but these will suffice for now. So basically it adds up like this: 1: A new activity is introduced - 2: The body/brain is broken down a little and needs to rebuild and reorganize 3: New neural connections are made in the brain and body 4: The new connections interlace and cross-reference with each other 5: Our bodies and our brains get a little smarter 6: Doing the activity gets easier and more enjoyable each time 7: Starting other new activities gets easier and more enjoyable.
And as this cycle is repeated over and over, we get progressively smarter and more able to adapt. The more in tune we are with ourselves, the easier it is to get and stay productive and healthy. The rate of progress a person can have in this way is can be amazingly quick, and though it differs from person to person, real results can be seen and measured by even the most skeptical pessimist if they are willing to really go for it. In this way you are building yourself a grand palace of health, ability and possibility, brick by brick, hour by hour, day by day… and you get to see and count each brick, and know that its making a difference.
Less important than the speed of habit forming neural-pathway formation is the progressive and predictable nature of it. Depending upon your goal you may have to pay super-close attention to see the initial results, or maybe wait a few weeks, but the research and experimentation has proven that the changes are real, observable, and predictable. Remember that while its true that habits are made, they are also always in the making, and the more we work at them they easier they become.
K, thats it. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Wow, Graham. That should have been a guest post. You have some great ideas in there. I have often wondered why the NLP community hasn’t gotten out in front of the habit-changing market…
January 15th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Well if ya ever need an amateur guest-poster I’d be happy to put in my 2 cents every now and again. I became a study/research addict in college, so I always have more information on my hands than I know what to do with. I work with each of my clients to find the best treatments and methods for their particular issues, which vary wildly, regardless of whether or not it ends up being with me. So holler any time you need the consideration of a zealous dilettante :)
February 10th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I just reviewed this on StumbleUpon because this information needs to get out there. Have you considered busting other productivity myths? I hope you follow-up on this post. Good stuff, thanks.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I spent hours trying to help my daughter find the source of the 21 day “clinical” research that everyone cites!!
Thank you. We BOTH thought we were nuts when we couldn’t find the study or the source!
April 30th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
[…] GTD’er–or at least he writes about getting things done. He has a great post on changing your habits and, in another, provides a thorough breakdown of his GTD system. His writing is a bit more […]
May 4th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Is it not true that a habit can be broken with a single life changing experience?
Is it not true that a skilled hypnotherapist can neutralize a feeling that leads to the bad habit and substitute a different feeling in its place?
In one case, experience delivers the emotional imprint. In the second case, the therapist makes the imprint.
Whether it is 1 second or 30 days the emotional commitment has to be in place. The mafia learned a long time ago that a gun to the head will cause people to change habits real quick?
May 4th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I would suggest there is a vast difference between changing a habit for fear of homicide (or punishment in general), and changing it in the real world where we have real everyday problems and habits are reinforced by lives fraught with repetition(s) and patterns that are slow to change.
As for hypnotherapy… they do not actually change anyone, they provide an environment and a placebo that the client takes/uses to give themselves permission to do, well whatever. Granted they can lead someone towards some conclusion or idea, but psychologically speaking the patient is choosing to be lead. They can just as easily not be lead, or be unaffected, or later break the spell as it were. It has been proven that sugar pills make people feel better when they believe it is legitimate medicine, but they aren’t being cured, merely placated. As such the change or alteration of a habit may indeed happen all at once, but that is no guarantee that it will stick, especially when a person has the same stressors and patterns in place as before. By the same token, take the gun away from someones head, remove them from an environment where they are likely to encounter one, and suddenly their incentive for change is gone.
Drinkers drink, smokers smoke, OCD sufferers continue to be compulsive… these patterns are broken for good as a process, not an end or a conclusion - the all or nothing principle rarely works, just go to any AA meeting for evidence. They talk non-stop about just wanting one more drink (at least), and consider themselves alcoholics for life even if they never touch it again… they tend to replace one habit with another, which in this case is almost invariably cigarettes and coffee which they consume with the same vigor and desperation as they did alcohol or whatever their particular bane was… and sometimes much worse substances - trading off one bad habit for another is not the same, or even preferable, to actually changing your understanding and motivation, and to do more than just get by, narrowly avoiding a habit based on fear, consequence and temptation.
If you teach a man (or woman) to fish, they eat for a lifetime. If you force them to cast a line one day, or if they force themselves, and vow to never not fish again, then a mountain of pressure immediately weighs them down - in my humble opinion, experience with others, and my repeated attempts at this, most people will break down under that pressure sooner or later. A person is not just alive, but living… you never simply think once, or understand yesterday, or decide in permanence… you are thinking, understanding, deciding - in other words adapting. Bad habits hinder adaptation, while right motivations, investigations and reasonable continuing efforts promote it. They are no guarantee either, but developing the psychological, emotional and physical abilities to bend in the wind is far more stable (ironically) than trying to stay perfectly upright and rigid in effort to resist or defeat it. If we prioritize our decisions based on what’s best for us and what we really want, and focus on what we can do, rather than what we should or should not do, we are less likely to berate ourselves for not being perfect… absolutes are dangerous, constructive and lenitive evolution is a much more enjoyable path. Even if it meanders the whole way, we can still appreciate the experience and the sights, completely unconcerned with the time.
I agree one monumental event can change everything… a loved one dying, a near fatal car accident, a miscarriage, a divorce, a broken heart… or the good stuff; winning the lottery, having a child, getting that promotion - but those are the exceptions, not the rule, and even those don’t guarantee a lack of recidivism, and can even encourage it - we tend to seek the familiar for comfort when confronted by unpleasantness; Häagen-Dazs for a broken heart, TV for escapism, procrastination with creditors - and we tend to indulge unhealthy habits in celebration; binge drinking at weddings, sweet and fatty foods at thanksgiving, reckless spending sprees on payday, etc..
Bad habits are far easier to keep than to defeat when we are victims, or unrealistic. But if we are mindful, and gently but honestly working towards change, and realize that we are bigger than our problems and not vise versa, building better habits becomes a lifestyle. We can adapt progressively and predictably, rather than forcing a single unyielding decision that threatens our well being if we fail. It is for this reason I despise programs like AA… things that keep people in a state of victimization and helplessness, insisting that their salvation depends upon giving themselves over to something or someone else that is bigger and stronger than they are… they are not teaching anyone to fish, but rather to fear the ocean and beg for the strength to watch it while someone else fishes for them (even though there may be no master fisherman in the first place). Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I don’t want someone to hold my hand while telling me I’m weak, and insisting that I make one unilateral decision then and there otherwise I’m screwed. I’ve learned and taught myself how to change, and while I have no problem admitting others have been of enormous help on the way, I’m the one who’s done the work… and I didn’t need or have anyone tell me I’m powerless, or weak, or that I must live my life based on one event, one promise, or one demand. I am of the opinion that just about everyone can do the same, if only they realize how much stronger they are than their problems, bad habits, and pain, and that no single event can ever resolve all the confusion inside… if a person grants themselves the puissance of being their own inspiration it becomes much easier to develop good habits in place of the bad ones. Black and white leaves us with only 2 options - good and bad. Thankfully life has no such division, and affords us the freedom to do as we will… as I said in my previous post; while its true habits are made, they are also always in the making… it’s the world of difference between a (static) life, and (progressively) living.
This is of course only my opinion… but I hope it helps somewhat. I’ll step off my soapbox now - hope I don’t sprain my ankle on the way down. :)
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