How to acquire a new habit in just 21 days

Repeat to automate. We got in the car and immediately buckled up, without thinking about it. Our life is full of automatisms, of actions that, by dint of having been repeated enough times, we do with the automatic pilot on, associated with a certain signal.

This is one of the ways in which the brain becomes more efficient, because to carry out this type of act, no motivation is needed, not even a conscious thought, the external signal is enough to detonate it. It is achieved by repeating… But how many times do you have to repeat an action for it to become a habit?

Acquire habits easily: step-by-step guide to achieve it

In 1887, William James, the father of scientific psychology, wrote an article entitled The habit in which he exposed the enormous brain plasticity and how 21 days are necessary for the formation of a new habit. That fact has been enduring over the years, so that it has practically become an unquestionable truth. Unquestionable? Other scientific studies talk about how that time can be variable depending on the person and also depending on the method used for the repetition.

However, more data and experiences insist in favor of the 21-day theory:

In the 1960s, the plastic surgeon Maxwell Matz described that his patients took 21 days to get used to their new appearance or stop feeling a “phantom limb” (amputee).21 days is the time it takes for stem cells to differentiate into new neurons in the brain.It is also 21 days that the emotional biorhythm lasts. All living beings follow cycles related to nature and our own biological functions. In the same way that menstrual cycles last 28 days on average, we have other biorhythms such as emotional or intellectual. And it seems that the emotional lasts 21 days, and not 28 as has usually been established. This was concluded separately in 2000 by researchers michael smolenskand, expert in chronobiology from the University of Texas (USA), and zerrin hodgkinsFrom london.

The secret of success: motivation

Regardless of what scientific studies establish as the average time to establish a new habit, what is key is the motivation with which we do it, and how coherent the implementation of this new habit is.

What we want to make a habit must be something that is connected with something important in our life, something that motivates us If it’s an idea that a doctor or a therapist just passed on to you, but it doesn’t resonate emotionally with something important to you, no matter how many days you repeat it, you’ll end up abandoning it because, deep down, you don’t care that much. It is essential to find meaning in what you carry out to be successful and make it a habit.

Get out of your comfort zone

Any change generates a certain level of anxiety due to the uncertainty it produces. That is why the motivation with which we face it is so important. We know that at first it can be difficult, but each time we repeat this action it will cost us a little less, since the neural pathway used becomes more and more permanently established until in the end it becomes an automatic act. We will have made our brain work as we want, helping us to achieve our goals.

Transforming our actions into habits allows us to carry a healthier and happier life away from the anxieties of modern life. Maybe it will take 21 days, maybe less or more. If I told you that you could be a new person in less than two months, would that seem like a long time? It is within everyone’s reach to do so. All it takes is a good idea, motivation, feeling and knowing that this is something really good for us and… repeat.