Overhaul your habits

Creating new habits—or replacing bad habits with good ones—can bea lot easier ifyou knowa fewtricks

- Mario Armstrong

■ Last year on his blog, Jay Z announced that he and Beyoncé were going on a 22-day vegan-only diet, writing, “Psychologists have said it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. On the 22nd day, you’ve found the way.” Nice rhyme—but not necessarily true. In fact, much of what we think we know about habits can be downright counterproductive. It can take months, even years, to build healthy habits, whether you want to quit smoking, start eating better, or just go to the gym more regularly. Here, the best ways to create good habits that will last a lifetime.

1. Give yourself at least 66 days to make a habit stick

That’s right, it can actually take two months or more to create a solid habit, according to a groundbreaking-but-overlooked University College London study, “How Are Habits Formed,” and follow-up paper, “Making Health Habitual.”

So where’d the “21 days” come from? “This myth appears to have originated from anecdotal evidence of patients who had received plastic surgery treatment and typically adjusted psychologically to their new appearance within 21 days,” study head Phillippa Lally, Ph.D., writes.

Hardly the template to follow to hit the gym more or drop a pack-a-day habit.

In the London study, however, 96 subjects chose an eating, drinking, or activity behavior to carry out daily in the same context (like right after breakfast) and kept a log. When they did the behavior automatically, without thinking, 95% of the time, bingo—they had a new habit.