I attended a training seminar last year which was based on Gary Keller and Jay Papasan’s book, The One Thing. One of the powerful lessons in the book that was reinforced in the seminar was that it takes 66 days to build a new habit. Before that I had always believed that it took 21 days to build a new habit. At least that is what the success gurus have said.
Covid-19 has presented a unique opportunity for me with more free time to make the decision to build new habits. Work from home, lock-down, and no business travel meant that I had hours of commuting time wiped from my schedule. I made the decision in March that I would create some positive habits to improve myself and test the 66 day habit creation time frame. I figured the extra time was a gift I did not want to waste, as time is a resource I have often wished I had more of.
My end goal was I wanted to focus on exercise, healthy eating, and mindset. So I chose some activities to make me stronger in each area. I decided to pick one or two activities in each category and commit to at least 66 days. What I found is that today, four months later, I am still consistent with the new habits I formed over the first 66 days.
Here is what I did:
- Body: I started walking daily with my wife. This was an activity I could do in my town and still maintain social distancing. We started out walking for about 45 minutes and over time this expanded to 60-90 minutes. We found we liked it so much that many days we walked 2-3 times for a total of about 5 miles per day. Now we look forward to our walks and never skip a day.
- Eating healthy – We have always wanted to eat healthy and have tried many times to come up with healthy eating plans. But we would often get derailed by going out to eat several times during the week. With restaurants closed, we had no choice but to eat at home. The choice we did make was to stock our home with healthy food choices. We’ve had fun cooking healthy recipes and the few times we’ve strayed and eaten junk food, we always go right back to eating healthy because of how good we feel.
- Mindset: Last fall I was introduced to an understanding of how the mind works called The Three Principles. This understanding was discovered in the early 1970’s by a man named Sydney Banks and is now shared by practitioners across the globe. The Three Principles of Mind, Consciousness and Thought point us to the fact that our thinking creates our experience in life. In March, I started training at least an hour a day in The Three Principles. What I have found is that I have been at peace over the past few months, regardless of what is going on around me. I find am better able to take action towards serving others, as I am not wrapped up in my own thinking as much. It has been very freeing for me.
What I have realized as I built new habits, is that consistent daily activity is the key to successful habit change. Also, 2 months of doing a new activity was the “magic” time frame for me where the habit became routine. This is where I stopped thinking about doing it and it just became part of my routine.
How have you created new positive habits?
