The Magic of 21

 “Develop a habit in 21 days” they say. Hmm. Sounds good. But what does that mean? In order to develop a new habit, there are two numbers to be kept in mind: i.e., 1 and 21.

Choose one habit and Practice it for 21 consecutive days. (Yes! That means work days and weekends too)

But why do we have to practice one habit at a time, why not two or three.

Trying to integrate more than one habit actually dilutes the effort and concentration of developing one habit and significantly increases the likelihood of giving up. You have a whole life ahead to make more positive changes. You don’t need to do it All at the same time. Pick up one habit that sounds interesting (or pick up a person with similar interest) and give it your full attention.

Why are we not able to develop a new habit?

We wake up, rush to office, check email, work or not work, send birthday wishes to only the good looking ones at office (wink) , work again, go home, check our facebook status, fume at the glorious lives lead by others, and then we go to sleep. In our regular routine, how many of us spend two minutes in a day to pray, to water the garden, two minutes to appreciate someone else job, or greet people we meet every day. We fail to develop a new habit in the course of time. Not to worry. I introduce you to the MAGIC OF 21.

 So why 21?

Our brains have nerve cell called the neurons. Scientists say “Neurons that fire together, wire together”. When you start a new activity, you create new connections between those neurons. The more consistently you do the activity, the stronger the connections become. 21 consecutive days is good enough to establish the strong neuro-pathways for this new activity. It helps in making it a regular habit.

BUT the mind is so capricious.  Your brain is sure to resist. Be ready for it. It is more inclined to think of the “lack of” instead of the benefits. E.g., when you want to give up your morning coffee it really does not allow you to think of the benefits. It may say a lot of things like “This is stupid. I have been doing this for five days. I don’t feel any difference. May be it does not work.” The brain is really good at justifying why we shouldn’t continue. Not to blame. As humans, we are more result- oriented than process- oriented.

“Change your thought , Change your life”.

Start practicing a new habit for 21 days. Now, as you start experiencing the benefits of the 21 day pattern, it changes the way you see the world. The default setting of the brain goes from “cannot” to “can”. Goes from “negativity, stress” to “positivity, happiness, and gratitude”. These habits simply help us to be more optimistic and hopeful”.

What habit can we start for 21 days now?

I have made a small list for myself that I am in the middle of doing.

• Eat a fruit each day
• Have green tea instead of coffee
• Pray and lit the lamp

And I read about the benefits of having six glasses of water in the morning in empty stomach. I am in the middle of cultivating the habit of drinking six glasses of water every morning as soon as I wake up and brush. I don’t even want to think of the first two days I did that. Yuck! That was how it was. Now I am pushing myself to make this a habit.

This is what I am planning in the coming days. So what habit would you like to develop in the next 21 days. Do not give up, the beginning is always the hardest.