Mind the Habit

You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.

John C. Maxwell

In the literature we can find different targets of days described as necessary to build a habit: 21-30-66 days….

Dr Lally study from 2010, examining the formation of the habit of taking a walk after dinner, reached the conclusion that it can take between 18 and 254 days to form a habit, the average being about 66 days.

Usually when we want to start a habit we encounter a mental resistance, a so called limbic friction (by dr A. Huberman), which is different for each individual. So you need willpower to start a habit and the amount of willpower depends on how difficult the habit is and on the individual himself. 

I compare this limbic friction to the gravity resistance encountered by a rocket during takeoff from Earth, because once you overtake it the rest becomes easier. The early stages of a rocket’s flight, such as liftoff and ascent into space, can in fact consume approximately 90% or more of the rocket’s total fuel. This is because the rocket needs a tremendous amount of thrust to overcome Earth’s gravity and the atmospheric drag.

Your willpower is your fuel!

The ideal time to build a new habit is therefore at a moment of the day when you know you can tackle difficult tasks more easily, because your willpower tank is full. This is usually in the morning.

(Note: we have seen, in a previous post, that willpower is not actually a limited resource https://wordpress.com/post/mindthehabit.com/93)

There is a Worldwide-spread movement about early morning routines, to start the day at your best. Check out The 5 AM Club book, by Robin Sharma, for example. https://amzn.to/4aMLfJn

I personally agree with this idea, because I had extraordinary results from my morning routine, waking up at 5:30 AM. At the beginning I tried to schedule my routine at another time of the day, but something always came up to disrupt my commitment. Then, after reading about the benefits of an early morning routine, I gradually built the habit of waking up at 5:30 AM: I have started by waking up 15 mins earlier, then 30 mins, then 45 mins, until I found the ideal time for my routine, which allows me to have 90 mins dedicated to myself, without distractions.

Please note that the important thing is not setting the alarm for 5:30, but getting out of bed immediately after you press the alarm’s OFF button, regardless of the time.

Forget about the snooze button! 😉 Here is your “take-off” moment: use your willpower to beat procrastination, jump out of bed and WIN the day ✅

The most crucial aspect of building a habit is to keep working on it regularly, even if it takes longer than expected. Persistence and determination are key to successfully integrating new behaviours into your daily life. But once these behaviours become automatic (habits), you will do them almost unconsciously, reserving your fuel for some new challenges.

As we have already seen, it’s much easier and faster to build a new habit when it is linked to a strong emotion.

I experimented with different habit tracking charts, but the habits that stuck with me are the ones I was really motivated to build, and to keep, independently of the chart used (21, 30 or 66 days). Each habit is a different story from the others, therefore you may experience that some habits form quite quickly, while others might take twice, or three times, longer.

You are going to feel when a behaviour has become a true habit! It becomes a part of you, integrated in your identity.

So, are habit tracking charts a waste of time?

No, they are not! They are very useful to remind yourself that you are persistent and determined to build that particular habit. They are your ever present accountability tool! I still use the 66-days one.

To enhance your chances of success, finding also an accountability partner, who can keep you on track when you are slipping off it, or tempted to, is ideal and it is FUN.

To successfully build life-changing habits, don’t obsess over or fear the number of days it will take! The worst thing someone can do is thinking: “Oh no! It’s going to take too long” and do nothing.

Guess what: those days will pass anyway, and if you do nothing, you’ll still be the same person at the end of them!

Experiment and enjoy it! Be ready to change your life!

Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.

Robin Sharma