The 20-Second Rule: Making and Breaking Habits
Reviewed By: Owners
Written By: Our Team
Habit: a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.
What are Habits?
Habits are rituals and behaviors that we perform automatically, allowing us to carry out essential activities such as brushing our teeth, taking a shower, getting dressed for work, and following the same routes every day without thinking about them. Our unconscious habits free up resources for our brains to carry out other more complex tasks like solving problems or deciding what to make for dinner.
How do habits affect our brain?
Scientists have learned that a certain part of the brain called the basal ganglia plays a crucial role in creating new habits and maintaining existing ones, leading researchers to an understanding of why some people, even after major brain damage, will still do certain things they’ve always done before. This can be activities or occurrences such as finding their way home without any conscious previous recollection of where they are going. These people often don’t even know how or why they can still do certain things, but with the basal ganglia intact, those old habits are still there.
The latest research also shows that habits are so ingrained in our brains that we keep acting in accordance with them even when we no longer benefit from them. Did you know that over 40% of what we do is determined by habits not decisions? Researchers from Duke University suggest this and how we can change a huge part of our lives just by eliminating bad habits and creating good ones instead. People who fully understand this have been able to find wonderful new ways to change their lives for the better.
The 20-Second Rule
Shawn Achor has explored this idea thoroughly. His book, The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, includes the ’20-Second Rule’ for making and breaking the habits of life. According to Achor, he created the 20-Second Rule when he realized that “lowering the barrier to change by just 20 seconds was all it took to help form a new life habit.” For example:
On Building Good Habits
Shawn wanted to learn to play the guitar. He eliminated 20 seconds worth of deterrents and slipped right in to 21 days of practice. How? First, he purchased a cheap guitar stand and moved his guitar out of the closet to within arm’s reach in his living room. This way “it actually took less energy and effort to pick up and practice the guitar than to avoid it.”
On Breaking Bad Habits
Shawn wanted to stop watching so much TV. Through the 20-second rule intervention, “I plopped down on the couch and pressed the ‘on’ button on the remote—usually repeatedly—forgetting that I had moved the batteries.” Giving himself just 20 seconds of friction and delay was enough for him to break the bad habit he was accustomed to.
This concept can help you make and break habits in less than a month! What good habit would you like to make? Learn to speak Spanish? Dancing? Writing? And what bad habit would you like to break? Leaving dishes in the sink? Watching too much TV? Not enough sleep? Whatever you choose, start with just 20 seconds.
The Healing Center Can Help With Making and Breaking Habits!
The Healing Center in Las Vegas provides tailored mental health services facilitated by a team proficient in addressing diverse cultural backgrounds. Certified therapists deliver in-person or remote sessions, aiming to reduce stigma and foster a mentally healthy community. Our Boutique Psychotherapy Center employs spiritually attuned counselors, employing various techniques to reconnect individuals with their inner selves and foster self-worth.
With holistic approaches, these therapists equip patients with strategies to navigate life's crises effectively.
For further information on their therapies or to schedule a consultation, please visit The Healing Center's website at https://www.thehealingcentervegas.com/.
Contact The Healing Center via phone (702)505-1280 or email TheHealingCenterOperations@gmail.com.