One habit, thirty days

Back in January, after determining more than few habits I’d like to incorporate into my daily routine, I bought a simple 12-month calendar on Amazon.

Inspired by Jerry’s ‘don’t break the chain’ concept, I thought it would be a good idea to physically mark the days I had done each habit. (It was).

I also figured that if I counted 5 minutes of each habit as a ‘completion,’ it wouldn’t be so overwhelming that I could realistically maintain a streak for all 7 habits.

I was wrong. It turns out that not unlike Dunbar’s number, we each probably have a limit to how many uningrained habits we can realistically juggle over a period.

7 is way to much. So is 5. 3 is probably doable. But if want mastery, it’s probably best to stick to 1.

1 habit. Every 30 to 45 days. Which, as it happens, is just the amount of time it takes to actually make it stick.

Alas. If you have 12 months and you want to pick up a half dozen habits, focus on one at a time, not all of them, all at once.