Traditionally this is the time when we make those New Year Resolutions to change ourselves in some way. Statistics suggest that many Resolutions don’t last past the first or second week of the month, and all those would-be non-smokers, gym-goers and weight-losers fall by the wayside. So does that mean that the Resolutions are all a lot of rubbish, a silly tradition that doesn’t mean anything? I don’t think so.
Latest neurological research suggest that our brains are “wired up” into patterns of thought which power our habits. If we want to be wired up in a different way – and hence have different habits – we have to rewire ourselves. The research suggests that this takes about a month of doing the new activity every day at around the same time.
Think of it like a path trodden across a field of grass. If you want the path to be in a different place, then walking a new route for one day will do no good at all. It will take a month for the new path to be worn in, and the old one to grow over.
So if you really want to change something, expect to be putting in effort for a month before it becomes second nature to you and you don’t really need to try any more. Stopping after two weeks will mean that you will return to the status quo. Persistence is the key to success of you want to make a permanent change.
Whatever you decide to do in 2015, I wish you every good fortune!