Today marks 21 days since I began publishing daily. It’s the longest I’ve consistently written and it’s become a part of my routine.
Twenty-one is an interesting number. In games like pick-up basketball or blackjack, 21 is the number we use to determine the winner: whoever reaches 21 points first wins. In many countries and cultures, 21 is the age of finally getting to buy what you want and go wherever without the need of supervision. Twenty-one also happens to be the century we’re living in.
And, according to myth, 21 is how many days it takes to form a habit.
This belief came from Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon who published a book called Psycho-Cybernetics in 1960. He noticed that his patients took around 21 days to get accustomed to their new surgeries. For amputations, it also took around 21 days for people to adjust to the loss of a limb. And because of these observations, he proposed that it takes at least 21 days to form a new habit, internalize changes, or adopt new behaviors.
Over time, his proposition became simplified and generalized. The 21-day rule reached mainstream and was often repeated in self-help books and popular psychology.
Recent research has debunked this myth and has proven that it takes more than 21 days. In fact, a 2009 study by researchers at a university found that it takes, on average, 66 days to form a new habit, with individual times varying from 18 to 254 days depending on the person and the behavior in question.
Still, beliefs are stronger than truths. No matter how much truth is thrown at our face, we want to believe what we want to believe, even if it’s not true. Many prefer to cling to their beliefs, knowing it’s false, than alter them when faced with new evidence. Few are willing to scrap them in pursuit of what’s true, of what can be used to make advancements.
And when they do, they later use their newly formed truths to tackle the world and discover that there’s meaning in challenging old beliefs. Through discovery, their truths lead to new beliefs, but beliefs that are yet to be true or false. And there’s one belief that is common among the few: that the world can be better than we thought, and should be better than what we’ve done.
No better justification is needed than using Joseph Schumpeter’s idea of “Creative Destruction,” the process by which new innovations replace outdated industries and methods, driving economic growth and transformation.
We’ve seen it happen with Netflix and Blockbuster and Uber and taxi drivers, and we’ll see it happen with today’s industries.
Beliefs and truths aren’t any different. New truths will replace old beliefs, ultimately creating new, developed beliefs.
The convictions of beliefs are strong. But the convictions of beliefs coupled with truths are stronger.
Here’s to breaking old beliefs and creating new ones.
Here’s my inspiration for the day:
Sources: