Forming HabitsYou may have heard that forming habits requires doing something consistently for between 21 to 30 days, and then magically it becomes a habit. While this may work some of the time, you've probably had the experience of trying to form a habit by acting consistently for 30 or more days, and then finding that the behavior just didn't stick. ReinforcementIn addition to just repeating a behavior, there needs to be some reinforcement for it to become a habit. Forming habits is not just about doing something over and over- the behavior either needs to provide you some pleasure or help you avoid pain.If you do something consistently for 30 days and all you experience is pain and misery because of it, on day 31 do you think it would really be a habit, something you just keep doing because that's what you've done for the last 30 days? Think about it for a moment. Chances are you will stop doing it if you have a choice in the matter. But if you experience some positive effect from it, you are more likely to continue doing the behavior, and it may become habitual. One reason for the 21 to 30 day idea is that there can be an adjustment period before you really start recognizing the positive effects of a behavior. Once you've consistently experienced the relationship between the behavior and the positive outcome, the behavior may then become a habit. This adjustment period varies depending on the behavior; there are some things that can become habitual very quickly if you experience strong positive reinforcement, while other things can take quite a bit of time before you really experience positive effects. One example is dieting. Usually when someone starts a diet, it can be painful to change current eating habits, and it usually takes some time to experience the positive effects from the new eating plan. The tricky thing with diets is that once the positive effects are noticed, the direct relationship between the positive effects and the new eating behavior is not always evident. As an example, let's say that after a few months of dieting someone drops their weight. If that person then cheats a little bit on the diet, the weight is not immediately regained. There is a time lag between the healthy eating pattern and the weight loss, as well as a lag between bad eating and weight gain. The danger, especially with diets, is that there can be an immediate pleasure that comes from indulging in a negative behavior, while keeping up the positive behavior may not provide such immediate positive reinforcement. That's probably why some people have such a difficult time keeping diets going for a long period of time. The lag time between the behavior and consequence is what really can make the process of habit formation difficult in some cases. Tricks that Help in Forming HabitsBecause of the effect that pleasure and pain can have in the process of habit formation, sometimes you can trick yourself by associating something pleasurable with a behavior you're trying to turn into a habit.It can be something as simple as giving yourself a small reward every time you do the activity. Set goals for yourself, identify specific behaviors you want to make habits, and find ways to immediately reward yourself when you perform those behaviors. Another trick is to focus on the long term consequences of your behavior. Envision the positive rewards that will result from the behaviors you want to make habits, even if those rewards may take a bit of time to realize. Stay positive and continually remind yourself of what your are trying to accomplish by forming the new habit, how it will benefit you over time. Being able to focus on the long term consequences really helps in the forming habits the will help you the most. By understanding the process of forming habits, you can start creating habits that will serve you in the long term, and really help you to accomplish more in your life. Return from Forming Habits to How Changing Habits Can Change Your Life Return from Forming Habits to Self Motivation Strategies
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