Friday, February 27, 2009

Habit Forming

"We are what we repeatedly do." -- Aristotle
The new buzz is that it takes 21 days to turn a random behavior into a habit. Huh?
Okay. If I, say, walk around the block every day for 21 days on the twenty-second day walking around the block will have become a habit. That doesn't seem like very much time to me. Did brushing our teeth really change from forced nonsense to habit in just that length of time?
If that is the case, then imagine all of the wonderful things we can turn into automatic behaviors.
Exercise. Meditation. Study. Painting. Writing.
I'm going to give it a try. You can try along with me. By tomorrow I will have chosen something that I am willing to do everyday for the next three weeks. (Brushing your teeth doesn't count. Hopefully that turned into a habit long ago.) Tomorrow I'll let you know my choice. By March 20 that chosen behavior should be so ingrained into my daily activities that in order to stop it I'd have to come up with yet another plan.
Don't forget that our habits define us. Choose wisely. I'll try to do the same.

1 comment:

Marnie said...

I'll take that challenge. I'm sure can find something that's enjoyable for 21 days to see if it becomes a habit. The trouble is, I can't settle on one thing or another - there's too many interesting things to do but, I'l do my best.