21 Days To A Brand New Habit

You can create a new habit in just 21 days. It requires persistence, effort and dedication. Do you really want to change a bad habit? You can, but you’ll have to work hard at it.

Kick off your new—good—habit with these quick tips on building new habits.

1. Determine you will change the bad habit. The first step is always reframing the way you think. If you don’t think you can change a bad habit, then chances are you never will. You must first agree with yourself that you can and will create a better habit to replace the bad one.

2. Find a good habit to replace the old one. Before you can replace a bad habit, you have to be able to have a newer, better one to replace it with. If you want to change your bad habit of being pessimistic, then a good habit to replace it with would be to become a more positive person.

3. Actively force yourself to perform the new habit. The truth is that new habits feel weird at first. Saying something optimistic, instead of negative, will feel downright strange. But if you are persistent and keep at it, being a positive person will eventually become natural to you. You must force yourself to practice the new habit, though, even when it feels wrong or strange.

Even though I’m sure you’ve already heard it said plenty of times, it really is true that it takes a full 3 weeks to change a habit. Another old saying that applies to this is “Practice makes perfect.” Write that down and repeat it to yourself a few times every day.