What’s all this talk about 30-day trials? Why not just make up your mind and do it?
Habits form in 21-days according to Dr. Maxwell Maltz.
Steve Pavlina blogs about 30-day trials.
Most people who attempt major lifestyle changes go through several failed attempts before it sticks. However, when you’ve done something for 21 days or longer, it has formed into a fairly strong habit. Until that time, any new routine is much more vulnerable to disruption, and takes a conscious effort to maintain. The only exception is strongly addicting activities which form without much conscious effort at all.
The shareware industry uses 30-day trials (a nice round number) to hook customers on their product. It is 9 days longer than the minimum needed to entrench a habit, so if you can make it with 30 days of doing something, you will know you can make it for 30 more days, and even commit to it for life if you think you’re ready to do so.
However, if you want to quit at the end, you still reserve the option to do so. Because of this option, the subconscious will go along with it much more easily, because it sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Something about the fact that you have a finite number to deal with, makes a huge difference in how the brain processes the decision, rationally instead of emotionally.
Which feels easier? Quitting eating chocolate forever, or just not eating chocolate for 30 days? Surely even if you are a chocoholic you could force yourself to eat zero chocolate for 30 days; it would be difficult, but not impossible. Your emotional brain, the limbic system, would grumble and miss it terribly, but ultimately surrender to the authority of your rational neocortex.
Another potential aspect of 30-day trials that goes beyond making or breaking habits, is identity development. Often we have habits which we come to use as a crutch to support our identity. A person who smokes becomes a smoker, a person who drinks becomes a drinker. A person who plays video games becomes a gamer, a person who watches sports becomes a sports fan. But if you can go 30 days without doing something you are used to, it will enrich your character and enhance your identity.
You can use this time to do something you never used to do. Ever think of being a vegan? You can do it for 30 days, just for the experience. Want to see what it’s like to be a jogger? 30 days of daily jogging — within your physical limits, of course — will change your entire outlook on jogging. You can see something from the inside looking out, instead of the outside looking in.
Take the 30 day challenge: pick something you want to do or not do, and commit to the new habit for one month. On day 31, you will then have the option to renew it for 30 more days, keep it indefinitely, or simply drop it for the time being. The choice is always yours.
No related posts.
