What is the 21 days rule? How to break a bad habit

 

We all have some kind of bad habit which we want to quit but are not able to. We always try to break them, but our addiction lies in between. Many people have bad habits like that of eating a lot of junk food, playing video games, biting your nails, negative self talking or spending too much time on screen and virtual life. Today in this article, I am going to tell you how to stop these bad habits and even form a good habit.

Replace bad habits

Whenever we try to quit a bad habit, we just focus on not doing that task. And due to this practice, our decision to quit a habit breaks in between only. Instead of trying to leave a bad habit, we should try to replace them with the good ones.

People think that habit formation takes a lot of time. Yes breaking and forming habits takes time but not more than three weeks. 

What is the 21/90 rule?

This rule was given by Maxwell Maltz during the 1950s. According to this rule, it takes only 21 days to form a new habit or break an older one. If we follow this rule, breaking a habit will not be a big deal for us. By this rule, we can break any bad habit like smoking, stop procrastinating, eating junk, playing a lot of video games or excessive screen time and can form new ones in which we can follow our passion.

If we try to apply this rule in the long run, then according to the 90 days rule, it takes 90 days to convert it into our lifestyle. 21 days to form or break a habit and 90 days to make it a lifestyle. But sometimes this rule is claimed to be false and it is said that 21 should be replaced with 254 days. So let us discuss it.

Psychology behind 21 days rule

As you all know, our brain contains neurons which work in a particular way. When we try something continuously for three weeks, a change begins to occur in our neurons which leads to the transformation of our brain neurons.

You would have definitely heard about brainwash. It is just the same thing. In one way, our mind gets brainwashed and gets adapted to the new habits in just 21 days.

Also, it takes 21 days to shape our subconscious mind. As we increase day by day while following the 21 days challenge, our subconscious slowly adapts to that habit. It also joins wires with positive affirmation. But there are some things which need to be remembered while walking on the 21 days path.

Conditions in 21 days rule

There are some essential points which should be kept in mind while reforming a routine. It should be necessary to not break the habit loop and keep our practice going on continuously for the whole 21 days without taking any break.

The second condition lying here is affirmations and positivity. There should be a constant belief and determination in our mind that we can easily shape it like a clay. If you try to understand the mindset of any successful person, you will find that they always have a real positive mindset which helps them to achieve heights.

Positive affirmations play important significance in shaping our mindset leading us to transform into a better person. This is like a magical trick which can actually shape your mind, and ultimately you.