We probably owe this particular example of pop-psychology wisdom to Maxwell Maltz , the plastic surgeon who wrote the 60s bestseller Psycho-Cybernetics.
He claimed to have observed that amputees took an average of only 21 days to adjust to the loss of a limb. Therefore, he reasoned — deploying the copper-bottomed logic we've come to expect from self-help — the same must be true of all big changes.
And therefore it must take 21 days to change a habit, maybe, perhaps! This is, of course, poppycock and horsefeathers, as a new study by the University College London psychologist Phillippa Lally and her colleagues helps confirm. On average, her subjects, who were trying to learn new habits such as eating fruit daily or going jogging, took a depressing 66 days before reporting that the behaviour had become unchangingly automatic.
Individuals ranged widely — some took 18 days, others — and some habits, unsurprisingly, were harder than others to make stick: one especially silly implication of the or day rule is that it may be just as easy to start eating a few more apples as to start finding five hours a week to study Chinese.
Telling your friends and family about your plan for your new habit, however, is a must. They can help hold you accountable. Some neuroscientists claim that it is easier to start doing something new than it is to stop doing something that's already a habit. But if you're looking to end a current bad habit, it can help to replace it with a new habit rather than leaving an empty hole where your bad habit once was. Start running 10 miles a day starting tomorrow even though you're not an avid runner?
Probably not going to happen. Cook a healthy dinner at home one more night per week? You can do that. At least one study showed that when trying for a new habit, making a resolution makes you ten times more likely to be successful. So go ahead—state your intentions and put your brain to work. Please note that archive episodes of this podcast may include references to Ask Science. Represented exclusively by Greenlight. Jump to Navigation. January 7, We are currently experiencing playback issues on Safari.
If you would like to listen to the audio, please use Google Chrome or Firefox. The Quick And Dirty Despite popular lore, it takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become a habit. For some it takes less far less time as little as 18 days and for others it takes far more time over days.
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