21 Days OR 21 Seconds? You choose.

Perhaps you have heard that it takes 21 days to anchor in a new behavior or habit. I know I have heard this and read this repetitively for most of my life, especially since I started getting interested in human behavior and the mind-body connection. When I read it yet again this morning in an e-mail from a holistic center attempting to give advice about how to reach your New Year’s resolutions/goals, a strange thought came to me in my half-awake state. It seems that the half-awake state, much like hypnosis, is a great state for the unconscious mind to give you thoughts unimpeded by the conscious mind.

Here is the thought:  We have been hypnotized, through repetition and belief, that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. Yet I know that I have worked with many clients and with myself to create a new thought, behavior or habit instantly. Therefore, if you change the belief and expectation, you change the experience. Why not condense the 21 day process into 21 seconds. This seemed too simple and logical when it popped into my head, and the more I now wake up into conscious thinking, the more I question the simplicity. So, I’ll STOP IT, and go with the original thought.

“From now on, I am catching myself anytime I read, hear, or repeat the previous Belief that had been reported as Fact that it takes 21 days to create a new habit, and I now intentionally choose to Believe and Expect that it only takes 21 seconds (or less)!”

I plan to repeat this mantra for 21 days. Oops, there goes that old habit again!