How Long Does It Take to Break a Bad Habit?
You probably won’t get rid of it if you don’t replace it with something better.
Everyone has a bad habit they’d like to shake in the name of wellness. Maybe you can’t seem to quit nail-biting, snoozing your alarm six times, or procrastinating before bed. I, for example, have a problem with my phone. I reach for it during TV commercials, when I’m walking my dog, and right when I wake up. Then I scroll through social media—endlessly. I hate it!
So how long does it take to break bad habits? The inconvenient answer is that the time frame varies from person to person, Karen Ingersoll, PhD, clinical psychologist with UVA Health and professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, tells SELF. According to scientific evidence, it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days—and 66 days on average—to change your behavior so that you don’t automatically repeat unhealthy patterns.
How hard your old habits die will largely depend on what they are (some behaviors take longer to change than others) and how consistently you repeat new, positive habits to replace them, Dr. Ingersoll says. As stubborn as they are, bad habits can be changed—demolished, even. If that’s your end goal, the following expert advice can help get you there.
How to actually break a bad habit
Let’s start with what not to do, according to Dr. Ingersoll: Give yourself a (literal or mental) slap in the face and try to get rid of the bad habit overnight. People often want a quick fix, she notes, but for us mere mortals, that rarely works.
She gives this common example: Someone who rarely exercises wants to ramp up their workout routine and instead of gradually tacking on a yoga class here or a jog there, they start immediately training for a half-marathon. “They think, if I do something intensively, I will change myself,” she says. But this often backfires—it’s too much too fast, which is a recipe for burning out and giving up.
The key to habit smashing is to start small and go at it gradually. Dr. Ingersoll recommends this three-step approach:
Step one: Picture your future self.
First, think about the good habits you want to have and how you want to feel once you’ve adopted them. (Hint: These new behaviors should, ideally, improve your mental health.)
Perhaps you’d like to watch only one hour of television a night instead of three so you can go to bed earlier and have more energy during the day. Or, maybe you want to be someone who makes real social plans with your friends (like, out in the world) instead of solely staying connected via Instagram—and feeling empty as a result.
Spending a little time thinking (or writing) about the person you want to be can motivate you to act in ways that align with this “future self”—and avoid behaviors that’ll hold you back, research suggests.
Step two: Identify the actions you need to take to become that person you’ve imagined.
Next, it’s time to bring your future-self vision to life. Take me, for example, always scrolling and swiping during my walks. I don’t want my phone to rule my life and would rather put that time toward something more fulfilling—maybe a little game of fetch with my dog or simply enjoying the fresh air.
Dr. Ingersoll recommends asking yourself: What steps do I need to take in my daily routine to become the person I’m picturing? Rather than focusing on your ultimate goal—say, going to bed earlier—zero in on the small behavioral changes you need to make in order to replace the bad habit, she suggests. When you first start implementing a behavior change, you may still feel the urge to carry out your old habit, she adds. The temptation can be intense, but it typically doesn’t last long—20 minutes or so, according to some research.
Instead of fighting the impulse to, say, scroll through Instagram when you should be sleeping, try to notice it without resisting it (some psychologists call this “urge surfing”). Then, focus on those tiny new habit-replacing actions you can do instead—like swapping Instagram for a book that helps you nod off faster. Eventually, if you’re consistent with your new behavior, you’ll no longer automatically do That Thing you don’t want to be doing, according to Dr. Ingersoll.
Step 3: Monitor your progress.
As you work on ditching the old habit, you want to continuously check in with yourself, Dr. Ingersol says. Several behavior-tracking apps can make this self-monitoring easier, like Streaks, HabitNow, and Way of Life. If you’re trying to use your phone less (hi!) or you just love to put pen to paper (also hi!), buy a notebook where you can keep track of how you’re doing (a monthly wall or desk calendar works great too).
Dr. Ingersol recommends recording your habit-change progress daily (and as frequently each day as you can). But it doesn’t have to be time-consuming: You simply want to mark down any time you don’t do whatever it is you’re trying not to do (January 8: Didn’t use my phone while walking Ollie this morning. Success!). You can also note any time your old habit got the best of you (January 10: Pulled out my phone to check work emails on our afternoon walk; got sucked into Twitter, er, X).
Self-monitoring is an incredibly effective tool for forming new habits and changing behaviors, research shows. Keeping a close eye on your actions can help you become more self-aware, Dr. Ingersol explains, and that self-awareness can motivate you to stay the course.
Remember to aim for progress, not perfection.
Finally, know that breaking bad habits doesn’t always follow a straight path. If you’re trying to stop picking your split ends, you may go a week without doing it and feel proud of yourself, only to catch yourself peeling a piece of your hair apart a week later.
It’s normal to slip up every once in a while—or constantly, at first—when you’re trying to break unhealthy habits or form positive ones, Dr. Ingersoll says. But don’t get down on yourself: Research suggests this isn’t going to put you back at square one—it’s all part of the process. (Remember: The length of time it takes to change your ways can really vary, so give yourself room to make mistakes.) Instead, keep at it. Eventually, you’ll hit your stride—and you’ll be well on your way to a new, healthier pattern (throwing my phone into a pond now).
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