5 days or 21 days to Form a Habit?
I have heard from many places and people say that it takes 21 days to form a habit or break a habit. In some ways I think that is true and in others I do not think it is…
Last week the kids and I decided to read the bible first thing in the morning before breakfast. No excuses, no interruptions and no distractions. So at 7am in morning, we wake the kids up and I sit down in their room to read. This happened everyday from Monday to Friday. On Saturday I decided to sleep in. At 7am, Matthew comes into the room and jumps on the bed and announces that it is 7am and it is time to read the bible. OK, I wanted to sleep in and told him that Saturday was an exception. Ok, now my son has the habit, did I ruin it for him? Using my excuse to break his habit? I do not want think about it any deeper…
So that night we just read it before going to bed. So far so good, we are still reading it every morning, 2 weeks now. We have all decided to do it and we do it. The decision to do or not to do it is far stronger! We do not have to make it a habit, just the decision to stick with it. Just do it!
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Facebook comments:
Hey Amelia, I tell my students that to make a habit (good or bad) they need: 1) to know that they should make the habit, 2) to know how to make the habit, and 3) 21 days of repeating the habit. This produces good, measurable results.
Thanks for the tips Dave, we will definitely follow those rules!