How Many Days Does It Take for a Habit to Become a Lifestyle?
The only right answer is: “as long as it takes.”
It depends on a person and on a habit. It’s easier to develop and embrace a habit of gulping a glass of water first thing in the morning than to write 1,000 words a day.
There was only one half-reliable scientific study done on how long it takes to develop a habit. The conclusion was any period between 18 and 254 days.
Why half-reliable? I developed some habits faster than in 18 days. I struggled for years with some habits. Reality always beats scientific conclusions.
Lifestyle
But “lifestyle” is not a habit. What it is, anyway? The definition says it is:
the way in which a person lives
In other words, it’s just the way it is. Quite close to the habit definition:
a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up
Thus, if you have a settled practice, it definitely is a part of the way you live.
So, how many days?
A habit becomes a lifestyle when it becomes automatic. You don’t think or ponder the specific action, you just do it.
One habit I developed when working on my weight loss was running stairs instead of keeping a normal pace. I wanted to have a habit that I could integrate into my daily life that would burn some additional calories.
Oh boy, I succeeded! I don’t talk about weight loss (I succeeded at this too), but about automation.
I vividly remember approaching stairs about a year or two after developing that habit. I kept the normal, slow, pace. I felt uneasy. Something was wrong.
Then, I realized: I don’t run. I beat this habit so much into me that I felt weird while not doing it.
For my three teenagers brushing their teeth still isn’t a part of their lifestyle. It is for me.
I’d say, the research about habits was loosely right. The period of 254 days is probably enough for 97.725% of habits to become automatic (based on the normal distribution and standard variation).
The remaining 2+%? It takes even longer.
Originally published on Quora.
