Willpower runs out. Rituals don't.
It's not the big overhaul.
Most of us know what we should be doing. We start Monday with a long list of good intentions. By Thursday, life has got in the way.
That's not a lack of discipline. It's how we're wired. And it's why I believe the small, seemingly insignificant things we do every day matter more than any big change we never quite start.
What the research says.
Much of your day already runs on autopilot.
Researchers at Duke University found that around 43% of what people do each day is done out of habit, usually in the same place, at the same time, without much thought (Wood, Quinn and Kashy, 2002). That's good news. It means the right ritual, once it's set, carries itself.
A new habit takes about two months to stick.
A study at University College London followed 96 people building a new daily habit. On average, it took 66 days for the new behaviour to feel automatic, with a range from 18 to 254 days (Lally and colleagues, 2010). Not 21 days. Closer to two months.
Missing a day doesn't undo it.
The same study found that missing the odd day didn't derail the habit. What mattered was coming back to it. So if you forget, just start again tomorrow.
"When this, then that" works.
Linking a new action to a specific moment ("when the kettle boils, I...") makes people far more likely to follow through. A review of 94 studies found a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006).
Why that matters for STAIT.
In clinical trials of the ingredients in STAIT for Women, results were seen after six to eight weeks. That's about the same time it takes for a new habit to stick. It's why our Starter Pack is two months, and why I'd rather you build one simple ritual than try to remember four separate things.
My morning ritual.
Kettle on. While it boils, a spoonful of STAIT Recover goes into a glass of water and I take two STAIT for Women capsules with the Recover. STAIT herbal tea for women is brewed into the flask for the day. Then two more capsules with dinner. One ritual that sets me up for the day.
How to build yours.
- Pick your anchor. Something you already do every morning without fail: the kettle, the coffee machine, making school lunches.
- Make it visible. Keep the STAIT box and Recover next to your anchor. Out of sight is out of mind.
- Keep it small. One ritual, done every day, beats a perfect routine you do twice.
- Give it two months. That's when it starts to feel like yours.
- Miss a day? Start again. Consistency, not perfection.
Want to see it in real life? Follow along on Instagram, @stait.for.women
Sam
Wood, W., Quinn, J. M. and Kashy, D. A. (2002), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83(6).
Lally, P. et al. (2010), European Journal of Social Psychology 40(6).
Gollwitzer, P. M. and Sheeran, P. (2006), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38.
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