Hey there, Happy New Year!
So we're actually entering the second week of the new year, the point at which around
30% of the population who make new year resolutions are going to start giving up on them. I actually
conducted a little survey at the end of the year in which I asked you what resolutions
you made in 2016 and how many of them you kept, and also which ones you were going to
make in 2017 and what faith you had in meeting them.
So today I'm going to be talking about those survey results and also about the science
behind keeping habits to give you the best shot at succeeding!
[INTRO by Caro Waro and Cristina de Manuel]
First things first, I've got to be honest, I didn't do the best job at publicising this
survey (it was on twitter, @InesLauraDawson), so in pure psychological survey style the
sample size was very small, but interestingly, of the resolutions that I did receive, they
all pretty much met the statistical averages - the vast majority were to do with self-improvement,
mostly to do with weight, health and fitness.
Now, I actually split these resolutions into three categories, those that involved habit
formation, those that involve breaking a habit and those that were merely punctual events,
and I'm going to be focusing specifically on making and breaking habits because the
literature suggests that forming habits is actually a lot simpler than breaking habits,
so if you're stuck for choice then always go for the one that involves making a new
habit, and if you are looking to break a habit, it's actually easier to do so by forming a
new habit to replace it with. It might seem a bit tough to try and do two things at once,
but the truth is when you're learning a new habit you form a competing response so it
will becomes easier to perform that habit and therefore you won't have to perform the
old bad habit.
For instance, if you're trying to quit alcohol, it's much easier to replace the alcohol with
say, a soft drink or something else to do in the place of the alcohol rather than replacing
it with nothing.
And this is fortunate as 70% of resolutions involved habit formation, although interestingly
a larger proportion of resolutions that involved habit breaking were kept in 2016. The opposite
is true for 2017 though, but this could just be a product of my sample size.
The next question is, "How long does it actually take to break a habit?"
Now the scientific literature honestly doesn't have a single answer because the truth is
that it varies a lot. For example, if a habit is associated with
an unpleasant event then it will actually be very easy to break it - but, if there's
no unpleasant event and there's no competing habit to replace it with, it can be quite
tough. Case in point, if you want to quit junkfood and you eat a hamburger and it makes
you feel very ill, you are likely to be put off hamburgers so quitting junkfoods might
suddenly become a lot easier. Now learning a new habit and making it become
second nature is quite different though, and it's also a highly variable process. You may
have heard the myth that it takes 21 days for a habit to become fixed, but the truth
is that this is a pseudoscientific observation by a plastic surgeon who claimed that his
patients took 21 days to become accustomed to their new faces which is obviously a completely
different situation.
Better conducted studies actually show that daily repetitions it takes around 10-12 weeks
on average for a habit to become fixed - but the truth is it is highly variable, it could
take anywhere from 2 weeks all the way up to 36 weeks and that might sound like a lot
of time to invest in daily commitment, but if you go through with it it does mean that
the habit will become fixed at the end - so whilst it might seem a bit harder than just
sticking at something for 21 days, there are quite a few things you can do to make the
process of habit formation become a lot easier.
The first thing is to ensure the habit you choose is a small one, one with few steps
and that is easy to perform and to tag it onto the end of another preexisting habit.
This could be something like taking a pill with breakfast or walking two stops before
catching the bus after work.
The other thing, and this might sound counterintuitive is to always perform the habit in the same
way. It's tempting to mix things up and for instance, go for a walk sometimes before work,
and sometimes to go after work, but the context in which you perform the habit is essential
for the habit to become fixed.
Another important thing to remember is to not get discouraged if you slip up. It's quite
common for people to give up after failing once but even if you do miss out on a daily
habit, it is easy to pick it up again if it is repeated immediately afterwards without
extending the time it takes to fully acquire the habit as second nature.
Also, on the topic of repetition and context to make habits stick, the opposite is true
as well. Change will make habits change. You may notice that when you go on holiday your
daily routine or the way you perform certain habits changes and that means that actually
holidays and vacations are the perfect opportunities for you to introduce new habits or alter old
ones.
So to sum up, based on the simple science I think there are five things you can do to
make your goals more manageable.
One, favour goals that involve habit formation rather than habit breaking.
Two, make one small change at a time. Three, don't give up immediately, even if
it feels like the habits are still very hard to perform.
Four, don't give up if you happen to slip up along the way, we are really robust against
those slip ups so don't worry too much about them.
And last, but not least, take advantage of holidays and vacations in order to start to
make these changes because it will be a lot easier to do so.
I really hope you enjoyed today's episode and that it was actually useful to you on
some level!
Two quick bits of news: Number one, this in collaboration with Matt
from Conjecture, he makes lots of fun videos about psychology, statistics and other quirky
bits of science and he's made a video about lay behavioural strategies on how to keep
your own new year's resolutions (ie - How To Keep Your Resolutions) - so go check that
out!
And number two! *POOF*
Abro transmisión en español! Me han invitado a TubeCon España, es el 18
de febrero en Madrid, creo que son quince euritos, me han invitado a mí y a un montón
de divulgadores españoles de YouTube. Estoy muy emocionada porque están poniendo muchísimo
énfasis en la divulgación y la ciencia - y estamos planeando unas actividades que van
a ser muy divertidas así que si puedes acercarte, no te arrepentirás.
And as always, thank you so much for watching me and I'll see you in the next one! Bye!
[MUSIC by Thastor and CryoSleepKitten] [CHANNEL ART & ANIMATION by Caro Waro and
Cristina de Manuel] [Hosting, Scripting, Editing: Inés Dawson]
[Translated into {language} by {your name}]