Studies show it takes 21 days to form a new habit.
According to healthline.com: “It can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. Some habits are easier to form than others, and some people may find it easier to develop new behaviors.”
I believe it takes a bit more than just a period of time, you also need to see results and a sense of achievement from the new habit.
The best way to stay on track with your intentions and to turn a goal into a habit is to track your progress. I use a simple spreadsheet (numbers app on my iPad). Started doing this last October. I listed the Days/Dates down column A, then my intentions/area of focus across the top.
Each morning I fill in the results from the previous day.
How many steps? Target is 12K
How much water? Target is 4 liters
Exercise? (HIIT, Yoga, Walk, Golf or some combination each day).
It started with just these 3 areas of focus. Then, in November, I added salad (target 1 a week), and then in December I added Gratitude (1 thing each day). Note: This process of adding a new focus each month was an idea from Gretchen Rubin’s book “The Happiness Project.”
My tracking and focus continued for 84 days in 2020. And here’s where the sense of achievement came in. At the end of the year, I reviewed my progress. Some intentions we giving me great results:
Gratitude: being grateful for and recognizing at least one thing every day that I’m grateful for did improve my outlook and help me build a positive mindset.
Exercise: doing at least one thing or combination of a few things daily helped me keep off the “quarantine fifteen” and build a strong immune system, and feel more energetic.
Water: here’s the one “goal” where I didn’t see any real difference. I know we are supposed to drink water and stay hydrated; but being intentional about it seemed more of a burden. I drink water, maybe not 4L a day, but enough.
And here’s where the adjustment came. In 2021, I started a new tracking spreadsheet. Gratitude, Exercise and Steps…these all made the cut. Salad and Water did not. I replaced them with a couple of new intentions and am tracking these to start new habits.
From healthline.com: “There’s no right or wrong timeline. The only timeline (and approach) that matters is the one that works best for you.”
Time, tracking, results. For me, that’s the key to turning an intention into a habit.
What tips and tricks do you use?
Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash