Is "21 Days to Develop a New Habit" Nonsense?

I, like thousands of other folks, have spent years spouting this fact in casual conversation and as part of speeches and articles. I've never done any actual research on that particular notion but if I were to use personal and client experiences as evidence, I'd have to say that there's not much to support the theory.

In refuting the old saw, it helps to first agree on the definition of habit, which according to www.dictionary.com is "an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary."

I've exercised pretty regularly for years and yet I'd hardly call the effort to get out the door "almost Involuntary." Putting on the seat belt is a habit. Checking the Blackberry is a habit and the internal debate rages on whether that's good or not so good. (Calling it "bad" is just too downright negative.)

Perhaps a more realistic name for this blog would be BetterLifeThingsToTryToDoOnARegularBasis -- which is a more accurate descriptor. Or maybe I just haven't been at some of these things long enough. When I'm 90 that exercise thing is totally going to be a HABIT.

As usual I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Do you have a real life example of a habit you developed in 21 days? Is it nonsense? What say you?

Comments

[B]

I think creating a habit in 21 days depends alot on the underlaying intentions that go with the present bahaviour. nice post