How to develop a good habit: the whole truth about 21 days

The New Year has passed, we said goodbye to old beauty habits, now the task is to develop new useful ones. There is a theory that it takes 21 days to form any habit. Does this really work and why is this figure so high? Let's figure out what I WANT!

A couple of years ago, there was a flash mob about a purple bracelet on social networks. The point was to stop complaining all the time. The bracelet had to be worn for 21 days, and if complaints (even mental ones) occurred, it had to be changed to the other hand and started all over again. The idea became very popular, and we confess, we tried it too.

In fact, while you are wearing the bracelet, you really get used to perceiving all events much more positively and looking only for the good in them, life becomes much happier for 21 days. But once you walk around for a week without the bracelet, everything returns to normal.

What is the secret of the 21 day period? We have found the origins of this theory.

It turns out that the common belief that you need to hold out for 21 days to form a habit came from the experience of plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz. In 1950, he noted that patients needed at least 21 days to get used to a new appearance or amputation. Maltz suggested that changes in the psyche occur in at least 21 days. During this time, a mental image is formed that overshadows the person's past habits. In 1960, his book “Psychocybernetics” was published, and this idea penetrated the masses.

To test Dr. Maltz's theory, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration conducted an experiment. In a group of 20 people, everyone was given glasses that turned the image upside down and for 30 days they had to wear them all the time without taking them off. After 20–25 days, the brains of the project participants were so accustomed to seeing the world in such a projection that they perceived the imaginary reality as reality. The peak of image reversals occurred on the 21st day.

To continue the experiment, the same group was divided into two. 10 people continued to wear glasses, the second group was asked to take off their glasses for one day. It also took them the same 20 - 25 days to get used to the present reality back.

Therefore, according to many experts, in reality it takes not 21 days, but more than three months to form a sustainable habit.

The habit formation process has several important stages:

1. Decision-making
2. Do what you want for the first time
3. Do it twice in a row
4. Do what you want to do every day for a week
5. 21 day
6. 40 days
7. 90 days

If you have firmly decided that it is time to change your habits, be patient and persistent. Because it will be possible to more or less relax only after three months. And the slightest breakdown at any stage will return you to the beginning.

In general, we are putting on the purple bracelet again and this time we will definitely learn to stop feeling sorry for ourselves! We wish the same for you, so that you don’t think about it for yourself.