Habits, Resolutions, and Motivation

A mini review of habit formation, New Year's resolutions, and getting to action.

It is now the 5th of January which means that most people’s New Year’s resolutions may already be history.
This time of year always provides an opportunity to review research into resolutions and sometimes researchers get their articles published to coincide with the this. And so it was for a review on habit formation published in December. And this is a very useful insight into how long it actually takes to form a habit in health behaviours - these include things like eating healthily, going to the gym, avoiding sugar, or flossing your teeth.

The old rule that habit requires 21 days of consistent practice comes form Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz published in 1960 originally - no this was not evidence based. So is this true?

Well, Ben Singh and colleagues in Australia conducted a systematic review and meta analysis of habit formation in health behaviour and found that no it wasn’t 21 days.

It must be noted that habit formation i.e. automaticity of behaviour took longer and was very variable across studies and participants. The shortest time frame was two months and for some this extended to twelve months. This therefore gives us a scientifically accurate figure albeit with a wide range: 2-12 months. This may be disappointing but gives us all a realistic figure to target. If you want to master a new habit, aim to do it regularly for at least 2 months - better still if you aim for 3-6 months.

The review did also look at what were the determinants for success:

• Simpler goals are more likely to become habits
• Planning and preparation help
• Daily routines
• Those done in the morning are more likely to stick
• Enjoyment of habit
• Stability of environment

Last year I reviewed research into families’ resolutions and found some similar factors that impacted success. These were:

• Set realistic goals
• Make and plan small steps
• Celebrate success
• Adjust goals as you go along

What you will notice in the above is that none of the success factors looks at willpower - in fact the review into families notes that relying on willpower alone is a recipe for disaster. Though we may admire this form of willpower, and some people boast of their ability to resist temptation (often annoyingly), research shows this is much less effective.

The reason is that this requires brain power and brain power is limited, and also fatigues over time. This is why the research showed that habits planned for the morning were more likely to be successful. Brain power is higher combined with the fact that less stuff could get in the way of it. The better way is what researchers call diachronic regulation i.e change the environment to avoid temptation.
This is an example of what Odysseus did in Homer’s Epic: to get his sailors to strap him to the mast so that he couldn’t be overcome, or better respond, to the Sirens’ song. However many people do not consider this willpower - it is in fact willpower in advance. So if you want to stop eating cookies (my particular weakness), make sure there are no cookies in the house.
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Another factor that few people plan, and is mentioned in the above lists, is that reward and motivation are tightly interlinked - though the brain can be motivated and not get to action (I also reviewed this during the year), reward is still a prime motivator and builds positive memories. So making sure that you reward yourself on achieving a goal towards your new habit and/or making it rewarding in itself will greatly influence success.


by Andy Habermacher, of Leading Brains
Photocredit: Unsplash

Andy Habermacher was my teacher for "Neuroscience in Coaching".
I love all I learned from him.
For support with your new years resolutions or any other changes get in touch with me.