It’s time to decide what ours will be new year’s resolutions and at the same time develop a plan for their implementation. It’s often said that enough is enough 21 days to create a habit. That’s why after this time we trust each other. We believe that we have achieved our goal and that everything will happen by itself, but everything is not so simple. The reality is that we are not machines programmed to complete a task at a certain time. Each person is unique, and there is no standard time for each person to complete our tasks.
In fact, the 21 day figure is taken from self-help book published in 1960.. The myth has lived on ever since, giving its name to all sorts of television shows, books, and workout plans. It’s very disappointing to see that we don’t achieve our New Year’s resolutions in 21 days. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why we often give them up. But not everything is so negative.
Yes, ok every person has their own timeYes, it’s true that there are tricks that can help us achieve our New Year’s resolutions. Moreover, if we organize ourselves correctly, we can turn them into a routine for a long time. We’ll see more of these tricks, but before we do, we need to make something very important clear: Not achieving your goals doesn’t make you a failure. Pressure is our biggest enemy. Let’s put that aside before we try to create a habit.
21 Day Cheat to Create a Habit
In 1960, a plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz published a book Psychocyberneticsin which, based on the experiences of his patients, he developed a series of tips that will help meet our expectations. Assuming that most books that define themselves as self-help do not have any scientific evidence, and the few that use the term only for marketing purposes, we must understand that making this book the gold standard is a mistake. But if it wasn’t enough of an argument for us, the fact that it’s written plastic surgeon and not a psychologist, psychiatrist or any behavioral expert should give us much more clues.
Despite this, this book has become the Bible for many coaches motivational. Some of the data that has been surpassed the most is the 21 days it takes to create a habit. Maltz explained that this was precisely the time when his patients needed adapt to your new look. Not a day more, not a day less. Of course, getting used to a facelift is still a way to establish a routine, so it seemed interesting to extrapolate this to actually forming a habit. That’s why this number resonates with us whenever we talk about New Year’s resolutions, even though it doesn’t actually have any scientific evidence to back it up.
So how many days will it take?
There is no exact figure. same person One of your New Year’s resolutions may only take a couple of weeks to achieve, while another may take several months. You might even develop a habit that will cost you a year. It all depends on the preferences and qualities of each person, his genetics and, of course, the methods through which he tries to create a habit.
In any case, to give a rough idea, in 2009 a group of scientists from University College London conducted a study with 96 volunteers who were asked to try to develop a new habit. They took a while on average 66 days, although the numbers have been increased from 18 to 254 days. It’s clear that those who manage to develop a habit in just 21 days are the exception rather than the rule.
What should we do to keep our New Year’s resolutions?
According to a study conducted in 2017 by scientists from Universities of Plymouth and Queenslandonly 9.2% of people Those who participated at the end of the year recognized that they had achieved the New Year’s goals set at the beginning.
This clearly indicates that we are doing something wrong. We can get unattainable goals or what methods are not the most suitable for achieving them. But it is also a mistake to think that 21 days will be enough.

Regardless, there are a few details we can take into account, and it all starts with making a list of New Year’s resolutions. We have to be realistic and remember that not all habits require the same amount of time. For example, according to a study published in 2023, habit creation wash your hands the due date takes only a few weeks and a good training On average, this takes about six months.
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That’s because washing your hands clearly requires a lot less effort than going to the gym regularly. If all our goals are as demanding as exercise, we will probably end up getting satiated. Therefore it is recommended alternative some goals of this type with others that are simpler. In addition, everyone must be realistic. If we get used to saving 100,000 euros a year, then most likely we will not achieve this, also because it does not depend on us. Even something seemingly more economically realistic may not be possible if certain unforeseen events arise. We must take all this into account.
Think carefully about how you create a new habit.
Once we have made a list of New Year’s resolutions, we must decide how we will try to create this habit. Important to install small and concrete steps. For example, as well described in the article Scientific AmericanIt’s always better to set a goal to learn English 20 minutes a week than to learn more English overall. In addition, they recommend enlisting support app or from a friend to support us in this process.
Rewards are important to achieving your New Year’s resolutions.
In 2012, a team of MIT scientists trained a group of rats to form new habits. They had to go through labyrinth at the end of which they were rewarded with chocolate milk.
After a series of repetitions, the rats reached the sweet reward much faster. It’s logical. But what’s even more interesting is that the moment came when They’ve already done it even without remuneration. And even more shocking: they also did it with a drink that made them sick instead of chocolate milk.
Initially the reward was necessary, but later it became a habit. Something important is that reward must be immediate. You shouldn’t think that if we go to the gym all week, we’ll go to the cinema on Saturday. We can take the opportunity to go to the cinema on the first day or even watch a movie while running on the treadmill.
Repetitions matter
In the case of rats, when pictures were taken of their brains, it was seen that as the number of repetitions increased, completing the maze became automatic. Originally brain regions cognitive Processing, while later others involved in performing automatic actions. This meant that there was no longer a need to think so much about the goal. He left almost alone. This required rewards and repetition.

We also need to repeat the action often to make it a habit. Sometimes it takes 21 days. In other cases, much less or much more. It is important to observe yourself to check when it starts to come out automatically.
In this case, it is also useful to perform repetitions. at the same timebecause it helps create a predominance of automaticity in the brain.
In short, it may take you longer than 21 days, but if you’re realistic about your New Year’s resolutions, take small steps to achieve them, repeat your routine, and reward yourself for your accomplishments, it’s quite possible that you’ll achieve them. And if not, then nothing happens. Don’t be upset. Lab rats don’t have to answer work emails, take kids to the park, or clean their cage. let us failure This is also important.
Source: Hiper Textual
