The start of a new year is often accompanied by new plans and objectives. Many of these goals have to do with behavior. Such as losing weight, more exercise, healthier food. Learning a new habit is quite difficult. This takes time and especially perseverance. How can you change habits if they are part of your daily routine? And how much time does that cost? In this article we will go into a little deeper here. Do you read?
How many days does it cost to learn a new habit?
Learning new behavior and part of your habits generally takes 10 weeks. Many articles are claimed that it takes 21 days to learn a habit. Unfortunately that is not all the way. These 21 days have emerged from a totally misinterpreted investigation of a plastic surgeon. This investigation did not concern behavioral change, but patients who underwent plastic surgery. They needed an average of 21 days to get used to the outer adjustments after surgery.
More recently Research indicates that normal change at food drinking or exercise habits lasts on average 10 weeks. After 10 weeks repeatedly applying the 'new' desired behavior, it is part of your routine and you can call such a habit a reasonable automation. So do you really want to change change than you will have to come through the first 10 weeks on discipline. Below some tips how you can best tackle this.
The beginning!
A good start is half the work! It doesn't matter how many days it takes to change a habit. The most important thing is that you make a start and are motivated to achieve your goal. If it is something you have been fighting for a long time, the threshold is getting bigger. So come into action!
Start small
When you have decided it's time to change, you prefer to have the same realized this. But healthy eating, exercise every day, drinking enough water and sleeping enough to sleep almost nobody from one day. It must be part of your routine.
So start with small steps! If you have completed a step, make the next step slightly challenging and build it until you have reached your ideal purpose. The easier the act, the easier to hold and all the faster it will become a habit.
Remember yourself
Habits are so put in us and let it worn, that we perform them on the autopilot. That is why it makes sense that a habit is not entirely obvious in the beginning. There is therefore a good chance that you forget it out of yourself, especially if you have it busy.
Therefore, remind yourself of the new desired habits by putting it into your agenda, hanging on the fridge and / or by an alarm on your phone. Teaching a new habit is already a lot easier if you are reminded every time.
Make a schedule / checklist!
In order to arrive well you can make a schedule in which you absorb the different steps to come to your end goal. To keep track of your progress, you can use a checklist. Put a check mark when you have kept a certain intention. Or hang a list in the kitchen and add successes to it. This helps very good when you try to get rid of some kilos. You always see a reminder for which you do it and finishing it works very motivating because the end goal is getting closer :)
Refunds in old habits
It can of course also be that you sometimes fall back in your old behavior. No problem! This can really happen to everyone. Only notice that you immediately throw the towel in the ring because you think you should start all over again. Because that's really not like that! Just take your new rhythm again. Our brain are so used to old habits that it takes a while before we turned them down. But the conveyor wins. Even if you expire a day in old habits, that is not a disaster.
Bring your environment
It is important to inform your environment of your plans. They can support you and help to achieve your goals. The support of others can be an important drive to continue in difficult times. In addition, it is of course nice that your friends take you into account when you try to drink less alcohol, and they do not come up with comments if 'don't be so unsociable'. Because that works except motivating.
Which habits do you want to change this year?
