Motivation and habit: where one ends and the other begins

It seems that almost everybody starts out the New Year with great intentions of becoming a better person, or improving aspects of themselves. This is fantastic, and striving to be a better person is a much lauded and respected thing, although unfortunately for some people, it seems that the initial motivation that was the driving force for this personal change or transformation begins to wane and eventually drops off. Why is this? Surely, if we want to change something about ourselves or improve a part of our being we will stick with it and see it through until the desired result is seen. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Why? Because it requires the protagonist in this situation to do something different, something out of the ordinary, or more to the point, something out of their comfort zone. The majority of people don’t like to get uncomfortable. Some people do not like a challenge that takes them beyond their place of comfort, whether this is in an emotional capacity or a physical one.

So, I think first of all we need to understand exactly what motivation and habit are, why they are different and how does one become the other. As we know, motivation is strong, when it hits us we want to jump up and do whatever we are motivated to do right then! Carpe Diem. Seize the day. There is no time like the present! All of these adages apply. Let’s take a plan to begin exercise as an example. An individual will have grand plans to get out there and begin their new exercise program…motivation is high…and all they can see is success in reaching their goal. This is a great start, you could not ask for a better one. Although after a while, it could be a week, it could be a month, the initial motivation which was so strong has left us and our goals of improving our health and fitness have fallen in a heap. It has been said – by scientists, psychologists and physiologists- that for change to occur it takes a certain amount of time for change to occur. What is this magical amount of time I hear you ask! Well, there actually is no magic number in this situation, although it has been said to be approximately 18-30 days. 

In 1960, a doctor by the name of Maxwell Maltz stated in his book Psycho-Cybernetics: A New way to get more living out of life that it can take 21 days to incorporate a new habit into one’s life. In this book he argued that people take 21 days to adjust to any major life changes. Now this was based on his observations of amputees and how they adjust to a major life change. This was the first time that anything like this had really been written anywhere, and this number entered the public consciousness, and has been repeated by motivational speakers such as Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins for years.

It was over 50 years ago that this was first said, and much has changed since then in human psychology and the study of human physiology, so let’s bring this up to date. In Hal Elrod’s great book The Miracle Morning: the 6 habits that will transform your life, he states that one of the biggest obstacles preventing people from implementing and sustaining positive habits is that they don’t use the right strategy. They don’t know what to expect and they aren’t prepared to overcome the mental and emotional challenges that are part of implementing any new habit into their lives. So Hal uses a 30 day strategy to implement change in our lives to create a habit, and this is applicable to any area of our lives whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual. Furthermore, to make this a little bit easier on us mere human beings who can find change difficult, he breaks down the 30 days into three 10 day phases, where each of these phases presents a different set of challenges and mental roadblocks which enable us to stick with the new habit.

Alternatively, some psychologists argue that for a habit to form within us and become a regular part of our lives, it can take up to eight weeks. All these numbers are relative, as it depends how often the practice we want to implement into our lives and make a habit is performed or practised. If we indulge in exercise for example 3-4 times a week in comparison to once a week, exercise becoming a regular part of our life will happen a lot faster as we will naturally be more inclined to do it.

So, the initial spark of motivation will become an ingrained habit in our lives anywhere from 3-8 weeks from the point of implementation. The main thing is that you stick with it, follow strategies that are realistic for you to create change, and do not give up when things get hard or uncomfortable. When we implement change into our lives, enjoy the ride and the journey that ensues. Self-transformation is an amazing process that changes us both internally and externally, so how can we not feel amazing!

 

Happy New Year!        

Ben J

Sources:

The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod, 2016.