You want to pick up a new habit, but you’re afraid to fail? Don’t worry, include a new habit in our daily life, do sport, follow a diet, lose weight, etc. It is not as complicated as it seems. We just need to repeat what we want to make a habit of for 21 consecutive days and we will have achieved it. Do you want to know why 21 days, no more and no less? We will tell you about it below!
Today you will discover the reasons why you are not able to play sports regularly, follow a diet to the end or any other goal you have set for yourself at any given time in your life.
To begin with, we will tell you what a habit is. A habit is something that we do in our day-to-day life automatically, an automatism. This automatism, as we have already internalized it and are used to do it every day, we do it without thinking, automatically, hence its name.
The William James theory, a new habit in just 21 days
William James is the father of modern psychology and philosopher. In 1890 he published an article called “The Habit”. This article is part of his written work “Principles of Psychology”. It explains the plasticity of the nervous system and the brain through his theory of the 21 days.
Every change we apply to our life produces changes in the nervous system, which affects the brain creating new neuronal circuits. The circuits modify and determine the way our brain works, our habits.
In order for us to create a new circuit for the new habit we want to adopt, we must work the subconscious part of our brain, which is where our memories are stored, where learning is created and, therefore, our habits.
According to William James, this process takes 21 days, (although it can vary a little depending on the person). The brain does not assimilate the changes at once, it does it gradually, that is why we must repeat the same gesture during 21 days so that the brain passes it to our conscious part, turns it into learning and finally stores it as a habit. So don’t get discouraged, you have to be patient. The end of the process is worth it.
This theory was later proven by scientists.
Working the habit is the key
If we work on our habits, correct them and acquire new ones, we will be able to reduce the number of movements we make when doing things, we will do them more precisely, we will not be so fatigued and we will reduce the attention we have to pay when doing it, because by doing it automatically we will not need to think about it.
Starting a new routine, including a new habit in our life is a matter of time. We only have to repeat the gesture we want to do for 21 consecutive days and we will see how we will do it without thinking, without effort and without getting tired. For this, we need to be constant and not abandon our goal in the middle of the road, the reward is worth it.
Losing weight, being in shape, quitting smoking, learning English, doing sports, are the most common habits. But these and many more can be applied in our daily life. This way, you will obtain both well-being in your day-to-day life and health at work.