Repetition - When small actions speak up

We are always trying to make changes to develop ourselves to who we want to be, it is so natural to take the easiest solution presented to us because I believe most people are inherently lazy. When we want to do something, we are always looking for a quick fix solution that will provide us with the quickest reward.

Habits are shaped by our everyday interactions and are embedded in our subconscious thoughts. They come about after years of repetitive action that most of the time we don’t even think about. Some habits are good however some are detrimental to our growth, and prevent us from furthering our development. Habits are repetitive behaviours and to undo undesirable routines, we have to consciously change the actions we take in a consistent manner until it becomes rooted into our automatic response system.

Maxwell Maltz first observed that it takes a minimum of 21 days to form a habit and get used to any new change. Whether it’s something like changing the route you use to get to work or changing your eating habits, it’s unfamiliar territory and a shock to the system. Any change will feel surreal, like an out of body experience where you are witnessing yourself execute these motions yet, your mind is squirming with discomfort and thinking “this is not right.”

Phillippa Lally a health psychology researcher at University College London furthered Maltz’s observation and after years of study, advocated that habit forming depends on person to person and that generally (on average) it would take 66 days, just over 2 months to cultivate change and make it into an unconscious response.

This is a significant expansion to Maltz’s initial observations, that statistically lengthens this habit-forming process from 3 weeks to 9 weeks on AVERAGE. (Don’t forget the average part of the statistics.) This information was summarised by James Clear on his blog, if anyone wants to read more about the study go to his website, but for now, I’ll just summarise his summary into my short post.

Studies are done on a set number of subjects in pre-defined conditions, and then whatever data/observations that are collected are collated into a pattern of reoccurring events. This creates a guideline but shouldn’t be considered the be-all-and-end-all solution. 

Regardless of how much time it takes to cultivate a habit, the essence still remains in such that only through repetition, diligence and consistency will we be abe to see any notable change.  Statistics are just numbers, a majority, a ruler to measure the goalpost, if we think of ourselves as individuals then we should only use it as a guide to understand ourselves. As a being with our own thoughts and capabilities we should take whatever information we have, use it for our own advantage and grow at our own pace. 

The positive note that I take from this study is that it doesn’t matter if we skip a few days or so, its not the end of the world. It’s about keeping your own promises to yourself and having the determination to continue even if you have failed. Only through failure will we understand ourselves a little bit better and understand what works for us. I’m a realist and a bit lazy most of the time, a “lazy realist”, I know I’ll fail however if there is anything to remember is that failure does not define us. So act on the new found enthusiasm on whatever you want to accomplish, fail at it, rinse off the negative thoughts and repeat. Repeat, repeat, repeat...