Lesson 5 of 6 · What feeds it, and what to stop adding
What missing one day actually does
There is a piece of research on how daily behaviours become automatic that speaks directly to the last point, and its limits are worth publishing next to it.
What the research says
96 volunteers took a median of 66 days for a simple daily behaviour to become automatic, with an enormous spread between people. Missing a single day did not measurably set anyone back, which is the part worth holding on to.
96 volunteers took a median of 66 days for a simple daily behaviour to become automatic, with an enormous spread between different people and different behaviours. Missing a single opportunity did not measurably set the process back. The limits are substantial and worth knowing: a small self selected sample, simple health behaviours rather than acts of worship, and everything measured by self report.
Lally P, van Jaarsveld CHM, Potts HWW, Wardle J (2010). How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 998 to 1009 doi