Good Habits – How Long It Actually Takes To Form It?

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” –  Jim Rohn

Everyone desires to be a better person, yet that can seem to be an unattainable aspiration. To consistently grow towards improving our lives, we need to create new habits that will move us there. Positive routines should be encouraged, even developed where they are lacking, but how to form a good habit, and how long it actually takes to form it?

What Makes Successful People Successful?

“Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” – Brian Tracy

Many of us have desires and aspirations, but we must actively take steps to make these things happen. It can be difficult to relate what is currently happening to the future results we would like to see. However, the future is being prepared today by our daily choices and how we invest our time and energy.

We would all love to be able to go to the local supermarket and pick up a bottle of success. But let’s look beyond this fantasy and find out one of the most fundamental reasons why people are successful.

Now think of someone you know personally who has succeeded. Can you see their face in your mind? Good.

Now ask yourself, “Does this person have a successful routine or set of habits that make them successful?” I’d be shocked if they didn’t.

Highly successful people rid themselves of their failure patterns by brushing off distractions. When you have no patterns of failure limiting your progress, you can overcome temporary setbacks at the thought level. Since the battle for success is won or lost at the thought level, your success or failure in this arena makes you successful or unsuccessful. Success comes naturally when you learn to control your thought patterns and have healthy habits.

Sometimes the only difference between being successful and being average is successful habits; good habits, or healthy habits, are repeated behaviors that aid your personal development. They are implicit behaviors that improve physical, emotional, and mental health. Some examples of successful habits could be waking up early, getting things done when needed, managing time efficiently, sleeping at least eight hours every night, exercising every day, eating fruits and vegetables every day, drinking enough water, and practicing meditation or breathing exercises.

How Long Does It Take To Form A Good Habit?

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” – Mike Murdock

In order to constantly grow towards improving our lives, we need to create new habits that help us in this regard. In the beginning, implementing a new behavior thought pattern, or action in our lifestyle is a very conscious act and is like climbing the steepest part of the mountain.

Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at University College London, has published a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology that shows that creating a new habit can take between 18 and 254 days, and it takes approximately 66 days for a new habit to take hold and become preprogrammed. This time frame is so wide because some practices are more accessible to form than others, and some may find it easier to develop new behaviors than others. We develop habits gradually, which is a process; not seeing results right away can be discouraging; however, if we want to see results at some point, we have to start and engage in this process.

4 Keys To Creating Successful Habits

“All people are the same; only their habits differ.” – Confucius

So how do you start to build these success habits in your life? Here are four tips on creating successful habits.

1. Identify the habits. Find the areas in your life that need changing or improving. Which habits would you like to create or reinstate in your life? Write down these new habits that you want to form. Don’t become overwhelmed trying to figure out how you will develop all of these habits; you will figure it out little by little as you work on them.

2. Pick two. Most people sabotage themselves by trying to change everything at once. Instead, pick one major and one minor habit you want to form, which will be the success habits you will create for the following days.

3. Start small. Now that you have your two success habits create a daily or weekly routine that is easy to follow. For instance, let’s say you want to wake up an hour earlier to get more successful things done. Instead of setting your alarm an hour earlier right at the beginning, only put it 2-5 minutes earlier every morning until you reach your goal. Remember, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

4. Replace a bad habit with a good one. The good thing about habits is that they form over time through learning, nuances, brainwashing, and experiences. As they develop, you can replace them by changing the thought patterns that stimulated them in the first place. However, you can do this only over a period of time. Just as it took time to acquire these mental patterns of failure, it will take time to release them and replace them with successful mental patterns that will lead to good habits. Identify the habit and the thought pattern that stimulated it that you want to change and replace it with a good habit that you want to form.

The New Habit Needs To Be Done Every Day!

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in day out.” – Robert Collier

A small discipline at first that, in time, becomes a positive habit. Make it a part of your morning routine; suggest a time and place when you deliberately pause and reflect on the new lifestyle habit you are working on. During that time, consider your specific goals for that day. What will you do, or how will you change a thinking pattern to reinforce your growth in that area? Set a plan for the day. Reading or carrying a short sentence or quote is helpful to motivate and remind you of your daily goal. A Post-it note in the car or kitchen to re-focus during the day must be a daily conscious act. Otherwise, days missed then turn into weeks, discouragement sets in, and it becomes easy to give up. Looking back, you will be amazed at the changes you see when a new habit is part of your lifestyle.

In Conclusion

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” – Aristotle

Thoughts are the foundation on which our habits form. Depending on their nature, these habits shape our actions or behavior. We are what our habits make us, and they either move us forward or hold us back. To achieve more excellence in your life, you must develop good habits; they lead a person to success and achievement.

Good habits form through willpower and self-discipline. It would be best to start with a deep conviction that victory in disciplining yourself and developing good habits is possible and essential for your well-being. You will never dwell long on a task that you consider unimportant; the things we value most will always be the ones that will receive our time and effort.

Please feel free to comment on how you formed good habits and what habits you adopted.

Or if you have more questions or need help, I am always happy to help.