Habit Forming research

[caeliter]

Does anyone here have any good information or resources regarding how long it might take for someone to build new habits? (Bonus points if it's accessible to me which means, free or very cheap, found online, and readable by someone who does not have a degree in psychology)

 

In particular the questions I'm looking to have answered:

 

The study I found multiple people citing seems to say that building a habit does not in fact take the 21 days that most people suggest, but rather a range from 20-254 days depending on the task or the person. Is there any way to predict how long learning a given habit will take someone? (either before or during the process of learning)

 

The study also suggested that missing a day here and there did not significantly hamper the subject's ability to learn the new task, Is there any research done regarding how missing multiple days in a row might affect the process? (my own personal experience suggests even missing 2 days in a row to be massively detrimental)

 

Finally the study focuses on daily goals, but is there any information on building habits that are not daily? (Such as a 3-day per week work out routine, or something weekly like running laundry) In particular how long it takes to build those habits, and how missing days can affect their progress.

 

[Igaduma]

you can create a habit faster than 254 days! (if it's something you do daily)

one thing that works well is to tie it to something you already do.  I saw a ted talk once where the presenter suggested (if you want to do a number of push-ups daily) to do a number of push-ups each time you go to the bathroom.

 

If it's something completely new that you can't tie to something else, break it up in little things.  If you want get up earlier each morning for a workout session, get up earlier first and do something else and once you're getting up earlier, then start with working out.

 

For things that aren't daily, what I do is do something else on the off days.  I want to be learning something new all the time.  When I went to the gym three days a week, I set aside the same amount of time on the other two weekdays to study.  So I would get used to the idea that that particular part of the day was taken.  Missing a day for me, especially in the first couple of months is disastrous.

 

Igaduma

[caeliter]

Yeah, I've heard of those things, chaining is the first one, and definitely something I think will help me. I was less looking for advice and hoping for a more "under the hood" look at habit forming.

 

I'm actually trying to come up with a good positive reinforcement system for helping me which is why I'm curious about predicting how long it'll take to learn a new habit because I'd like to come up with a reward system where it's not just a repeating reward but rather building up to something. I'm also learning android development so the "someday maybe" dream is to turn it into an app.

 

I was thinking of like a point system, where every time I complete the task I'm trying to get into the habit of, I get a few points (more points the more consecutive days I complete the task or something to that effect) and after enough points accumulate, eventually I "level up" enough (to use a nerd-fitness concept) I'll get some sort of notification and I can take a step back and assess how automatic the habit has become, and decide if I still need help making it stick, or whatever the next step might be.

 

I'll probably have to play with it a little bit, but in a perfect world, the "max level" is reached around the same time the task becomes automatic for me. Since not all tasks are equally easy to train, if I can benchmark and predict as I go, I can adjust how the points are awarded on the fly so that it more closely matches my progress.

 

I don't want to use a streak system because I can be a bit fatalistic minded about those kinds of things (to use a term from my counseling) and so as soon as I bust a streak I find it really hard to get started again. (This is actually what inspired me to think about this, I busted my duolingo streak again and remembered thinking how hard it was to motivate myself to get back into it even though learning a new language is something I want for myself) This would be why understanding how missing days might help make the system a bit more robust.

 

I don't know, at this stage it's just something I'm toying around with, so I thought I'd put some feelers out there and see what kind of information I could find.

[Igaduma]

quick google search provided me with http://jamesclear.com/new-habit

which contains two possibly interesting links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671700758/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0671700758&linkCode=as2&tag=jamesclear-20&linkId=6DQ32IRAG3LU4PKA

 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.674/abstract

 

neither of them is free though

 

[tyria]

There is another one which I found useful http://zenhabits.net/new-habit/

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

On 2016-05-02 at 6:30 AM, Igaduma said:

quick google search provided me with http://jamesclear.com/new-habit

...

 

 

That site was amazing. Thanks for the link!

[Moira]

I am trying a 16 week program that I designed myself to gain a fitness habit. I'll be posting throughout the show my progress.

[Jijiang Quan]

"Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" is worth the read (or audio book) if you really want to dig deep into the theory of what prevents us from forming good habits.  I recommend it to everyone trying to accomplish any type of goal.

[Leafa]

I personally think that The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg is like the book on habit building. He focuses on the habit loop, (cue routine, reward) and how to hack it for our own benefit (and how companies exploit it).

[Butternut]

10 hours ago, Leafa said:

I personally think that The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg is like the book on habit building. He focuses on the habit loop, (cue routine, reward) and how to hack it for our own benefit (and how companies exploit it).

Yes. This. My brother suggested that book to me a year ago. I fluffed it off and I was at my I laws and it was sitting by their couch.i borrowed it and it changed the way I look at habits.  I can't remember it going into how long it takes you to change a habit but it about the nature of habits and how you can change it. 

 

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/The-Power-of-Habit-Charles-Duhi

 

If that video doesn't load up just look up his Tedtalks.