I have now avoided processed sugar and sweets, candy, cake, cookies, doughnuts, etc. for three whole weeks. In the past I would never have thought that would be something I could do, but here I am and I did it!
Three weeks into this adventure, I’ve started wondering how long it really takes to form a new habit. There’s an oft-touted rule of thumb that says it takes 21 days to form a new habit, but apparently that doesn’t have much scientific basis. It’s probably better just as a reminder that you have to do new things for a while before they stick. So how long does habit formation really take? I’m especially curious about the transition from having to think about and exert a lot of self-control to continue the behavior, into it being practically automatic. I feel like right now I’m staying away from sugar and processed sweets but only with a lot of effort…how long until I just do it naturally? Until it just becomes part of who I am?
Apparently, anywhere from 18 to 254 days, according to psychological research on how habits are formed in the real world. The researchers looked at habit formation and automaticity (when it became an automatic behavior for the individual). Participants took anywhere from 18 to 254 days before they reached 95% of automaticity. This is quite a wide range, apparently it varies heavily based on the individual and can take a very long time for some. Performing the behavior more consistently certainly helped, although missing one opportunity to perform the behavior did not really affect the process of forming the habit. Essentially, if you repeat a behavior consistently it does become automatic, but the time it takes to do so really depends on each individual. For some people it’s very quick and for others it takes a long time.
So, I’m already past 18 days, yay! And 12% of the way to 254 days. Somewhere between here and there these new habits should stick!
sweeter without 