Reading: Why Habits Are Hard to Change

A A habit is a daily action repeated in the same situation until it feels automatic. Researchers at University College London, led by Phillippa Lally, investigated how routines form over time. The study followed 96 volunteers for 12 weeks, which totalled 84 days. Each volunteer chose one new, simple behaviour to do every day in the same situation, such as eating a piece of fruit with lunch. Every day the volunteers reported whether they had done the behaviour and how automatic it felt. They responded to statements such as "I do it without thinking" to measure this feeling. All the measures collected throughout the project were self-reported. The study was published in 2010 in the European Journal of Social Psychology.

B The results revealed that habit formation takes considerable time and differs widely from person to person. On average, it took about 66 days for the behaviour to become automatic. However, the time varied enormously among the volunteers, ranging from 18 days to an estimated 254 days. The longest figure is an estimate, because the study stopped at 84 days. Many volunteers had not yet formed an automatic routine by the twelfth week. Consequently, the researchers calculated an estimate for participants who required longer periods to make their chosen actions feel effortless.

C The study also looked at the impact of mistakes and the boundaries of the findings. The researchers discovered that missing a single day did not seriously affect the process of forming the habit. A brief interruption did not undo the progress that a volunteer had already achieved. Nevertheless, there are clear limits to the study. The behaviours were simple everyday actions, and the reports were the volunteers' own. Because of these factors, the numbers may not apply to every kind of habit, especially actions that demand greater effort or occur in shifting environments.

D Based on this evidence, it seems that people need patience when trying to change their routines. I would suggest that anyone attempting a new habit should choose a simple action, such as eating a piece of fruit with a meal. It seems unnecessary to worry about missing an isolated day, as long as you return to the behaviour immediately. Furthermore, I would suggest expecting the process to take several months rather than just a few weeks. It seems helpful to recognise that progress varies, and I would suggest giving yourself sufficient time before judging whether a routine has succeeded.