What makes a habit into a habit is not thinking about what we\u2019re doing. The brain goes on to autopilot, and we do what we\u2019ve always done \u2013 a cornerstone for survival! New habits tend to sneak up on us. Suddenly we\u2019ve added bad habits or changed our behaviour. This tendency for habits to sneak stealthily into our lives means we should watch out \u2013 bad habits can pop up from \u2018nowhere\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something to look out for: exceptions.<\/strong> Maybe you\u2019re like me and think \u2018it\u2019s not so bad \u2013 I\u2019ve only done it once\u2019 \u2013 and then, a while later, it\u2019s there, the unwanted bad habit. In other words, what we may see as a harmless exception can turn into … that very thing, a habit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our brains prefer not to waste energy needlessly and \u2013 ideally \u2013 not to think more than they have to. So much of what we do is done on autopilot. That is why we need to proactively incorporate new habits by making a decision and working in a structured way to create a new habit. There is no quick fix but there are established tools for doing this successfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Research has shown that learning to create new behaviours in the brain is done by \u2018packaging\u2019 the behaviours together into a habit. This occurs in three stages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is required of you? <\/strong>Changing habits is usually both extremely hard and uncomfortable, which means that we often avoid doing it. We choose to remain in our comfort zone and continue to do what we have always done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One explanation for why it is difficult to change habits is that we choose short-term rewards rather than a reward that is further off in the future. You would prefer to stay in your comfort zone rather than take the tougher route to get the long-term reward!<\/p>\n\n\n\n How long does it take \u2013 18, 21, 66, 90 or 254 days?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The myth and clich\u00e9 that it should take 21 days<\/strong> to create a new habit was first introduced by Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon in the 1950s. He discovered that his patients who had had facial surgery needed an average of 21 days to get used to their new face. The same applied when a patient had had a leg amputated \u2013 the person felt phantom pain for about 21 days before they became accustomed to their new situation. So he quickly came to the conclusion that at least about 21 days were needed for an old mental image to be replaced by a new one. The rumour spread and soon the quotation was shortened to: \u2018It takes just 21 days to form a new habit!\u2019, <\/em>a saying that has unfortunately taken hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Considerably more reliable research on habits \u2013 and there are not many such studies \u2013 agree that to turn a desired behaviour into a habit you need to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, later studies suggest that most people need to exercise self-control for a much longer period of time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A well-designed study by the Health Research Centre at University College London concluded that it took 18\u2013254 days<\/strong> for various desired behaviours to become habits, of which 90 days is the average for \u2018complex\u2019 behaviours such as exercise. \u2018Simple\u2019 behaviours, such as eating particular things, took less time to become habits. These and other studies concluded that behaviours continue to become more automatic over time. Every successive repetition builds on the previous one, with the cumulative effect being the more essential aspect than the frequency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want to lose weight and get fit. The reward \u2013 weight loss \u2013 will take time and requires a considerable degree of discipline. The short-term reward, skipping your exercise session to enjoy watching TV with a nice bag of crisps, tends to be much more appealing. We often say to ourselves that \u2018I\u2019ll do the exercise session in the morning\u2019<\/em> and postpone the exercise and the diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another survey done on 96 people shows that it takes an average of 66 days<\/strong> to get used to a new habit \u2013 e.g. to eat fruit or run for 15 minutes every day. The study also shows that it is easier to create a new habit than to get rid of one. If you are to get rid of a habit, you are most likely to succeed by replacing it with something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To summarise …<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are no quick fixes from one week to the next. It takes an average of 66\u201390 days for a habit to become established and to feel like a natural part of your daily routine. The study\u2019s researchers also discovered that if you forget, skip or don\u2019t have the energy to do what you intend to do, it does not have a negative effect on the process in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My best tips:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We at Trainimal Woman help you to break bad old habits and establish good new ones \u2013 for a sustainable lifestyle! Our memberships run for 30 days, 90 days, 180 days and 360 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By<\/strong> Birgitta Th\u00f6rn<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Phillippa Lally, Cornelia H. M. van Jaarsveld, Henry W. W. Potts and Jane Wardle (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, Volume 40, Issue 6, pages 998\u20131009, October 2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: a meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological bulletin, 133(1), 65\u201394<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What makes a habit into a habit is not thinking about what we\u2019re doing. The brain goes on to autopilot, and we do what we\u2019ve always done \u2013 a cornerstone…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14291,"featured_media":14455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[113,141,250,152,251],"class_list":["post-14454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motivation","tag-vanor","tag-planering","tag-quick-fix","tag-framgang","tag-well-being"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy do we do what we do?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Why do we do what we do?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n