How quick is a habit formed?
I took a 3 day course by Stephen R. Covey writer of the book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and the answer was 21 days, this number was confirmed again and again including by an individual who makes close to a quarter of a million dollars a year last night.
Imagine that, the author says it, the books say it, and even true life examples say it Mrs. Loren Mikeal confirms it.
Yet with all the proof a good habit is easy to gain and easy not to.
This is not all though. . . the main focus for this post is why is a good habit easy to loose once it is gained?
When pondering on this question this morning it appears some of my good habits fall off and go back to old ineffective behavior paterns for because of a natural force:
Gravity
To create a good habit goes against gravity, or in otherwords the force of the behavior before. The amount of time spent doing the old behavior was much greater then the 21 days. So after 21 days of applying it is a habit.
It is almost unconciously a habit after 21 days, but if you step away it will become greater and greater a difficulty.
If you decide to take a day away from the new habit formed keep yourself on course with 2 primary actions.
First plan your return and second share that plan with someone who will check back in with you.
Joshua Andrus
http://www.hiresite.info/
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