It's commonly believed that a new habit can take hold in just twenty-one days. It’s possible, yet there's more to the 21-day game that is less known, and rarely acknowledged.
People cling to the overly simplistic expectation of 21-days because it feels doable, only to end up with the familiar lament, “what’s wrong with me.” Instead of haing a new habit, you have the old discouragement.
There's nothing wrong with you; what's wrong is the expectation that a new habit only takes 21 days. Possible, but unlikely. You need time to prepare, adapt, learn.
TRUTH: It takes more than 21 days to form a new habit.
Think of it as playing more than one hand to win. To play the game successfully, you need to consider several cards in the deck: fear, impatience, doubt, the comfort of old habits, just to name a few. All make it easy to get lost in the shuffle - the emotional stuff that gets in the way of doing the new habit.
The first 21 days is about learning how to manage all the emotional stuff that comes up as you do your new habit. You learn how to take hold of a new habit by adapting along the way to what works, and letting go of what doesn't.
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Laura J. Moore
