There’s an enduring belief that it only takes 21 days to form a habit—at least that’s what plastic surgeon Maxwell Matz insisted upon in his 1960 self-help book Psycho-Cybernetics. He claimed that it took his patients about 21 days to adjust to their new appearance after surgery and, though no formal experiment was conducted to verify this further, Matz’s observation eventually became an enduring myth in the popular imagination. But the reality of forming a habit is much more complex.
For centuries, habits and habit formation weren’t subject to rigorous research. In 2009, a groundbreaking study finally proved that, contrary to Matz’s theory, habits typically develop anywhere from 18 to 254 days. On average, it took 66 days for survey participants to reliably integrate one of three new daily activities in their lives: eating a piece of fruit with lunch, drinking a bottle of water with lunch, or running for 15 minutes before dinner. Repetition was also determined to be critical for “automaticity,” that is, engaging in a habit without necessarily thinking about it.
Some habits, however, are easier to incorporate than others. A 2012 study, for example, found that simple actions like drinking water encouraged greater automaticity compared to elaborate routines, such as a daily exercise regimen. A 2015 study reached a similar conclusion, in which new gym-goers had to exercise at least four times a week for six weeks to fully develop an exercise habit.
How, then, should someone develop a habit successfully? Unsurprisingly, consistency is key. Repeating a routine every day eventually leads to automaticity, especially if completed in the same context, whether it be at the same time of day, tied to a specific object like an alarm clock, or done with the same group of people. Cues, particularly when they’re distinctive, also strengthen the impulse to follow through on a habit, according to a 2016 study.
“Cue-based reminders are more potent when the cues they employ are distinctive relative to other regularly encountered stimuli and other stimuli encountered concurrently,” the study’s authors write. “They can be more effective than written or electronic reminder messages.”
Rewards can help, too, but only when they’re enjoyed right away. Phillippa Lally, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Surrey in England, told Scientific American that rewards are far more effective if received during a specific task, rather than after the fact. A 2014 study reaffirmed this, where people who listened to audiobooks while at the gym initially went there 51% more frequently than the control group.
Steadily reinforcing behaviors through repetition and cue-based associations does ultimately result in enduring habits. More often than not, this process takes more than 21 days, but that doesn’t mean that the habit won’t stick—even if it takes a few months.
Contrary to popular belief, it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a consistent habit.
According to recent studies, starting with a simpler task like drinking water after breakfast, repeating it daily, and implementing specific cues can all help in forming a new habit.
Sources: How Long Does It Really Take to Form a Habit?; Reminders Through Association; How long does it take to form a habit?; Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice; Time to Form a Habit: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Health Behaviour Habit Formation and Its Determinants; Here's How Long You Need to Form a Habit, And 8 Tips to Stick With It; How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world
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