How many days does it take to form a habit?

How many days does it take to form a habit? I used to know. I used to know that if I wanted to be more productive, I would first have to do ‘plan my work, work my plan.’ I would definitely find a way to do it. I also used to know that if I wanted to go for a run every day, there were some things I wanted to do beforehand. I would set a time and plan my whole day around it.

Jerks! How many days does it take to form a habit?

Ugh! It took me three months before I was able to form a habit of waking up early. And honestly, it was really hard. It’s quite tough to get out of bed with all my thoughts running in my head.

Usually, we generally think that it takes 21 days to build a new habit. But how many days does it truly take to form a habit?

A study shows that the number of days actually varies depending on the behavior you are trying to build. According to research, the answer is not 21 days, as once thought. Rather, it can be as little as 18 or as much as 254 (in the case of one particularly difficult habit).

Why is it important to form a good habit?

Yes! For everything in the world, it is important to form a habit: getting up early in the morning, washing your face, brushing your teeth, reading a book, writing an article, and so on. It is important because you will not have time to do those things later.

It is difficult to form a habit. It takes time. A lot of time. All of us have bad habits, too. But, we must be able to form good ones.

Let’s talk about how habit formation works.

When a repeated action becomes automated, it is called a habit. The stimulus or cue can trigger it. You form this habit unknowingly by following at least 25 times of doing the same action under similar situations.

The study found that it takes around 66 days to form a habit through repeated actions. If you change your behavior, you should repeat your new behavior at least 22 times, preferably 25-30 times.

Over time, this process will become easier and harder to break the habit because of the increasing neural pathways, even though you are not aware of them. That is when habits start ruling over us.

In addition, the first reason is a simple principle of economics: “the law of economy of time.” If you have time, you can do some work; if you don’t have the time, you don’t have such an opportunity, or someone has taken your time and doesn’t give it to you again.

You may use this time for something more valuable than your current activity.

See also:

1. How to focus on yourself and not others?
2. Do we have the right to judge others?
3. How many red bulls can you drink in a day?