While your New Year’s resolution statistically probably crashed and burned by February, it’s never too late to start creating good habits for yourself.
But what does it take for a good habit to stick?
That was at the center of a large-scale experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania, with the help of some computer-learning wizardry.
“You may have heard that it takes about 21 days to form a habit, but that estimate was not based on any science,” said CalTech professor Colin Camerer, who also contributed to the study that was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
After using a machine learning algorithm to chew on four years’ worth of data from 30,000 gymgoers with the help of 24-Hour Fitness, along with 3,000 hospital workers whose hand-washing was analyzed, the scientists found an answer for how long it takes to form good habits.
The answer? It depends.
The researchers say context matters when it comes to forming good habits, and the artificial intelligence helped sift through the noise to find the answer.
Sorry to report, it took six months of going to the gym before it became a regular thing for those in that group.
On the other hand, it took just 100 hours for hospital workers to get into the habit of washing theirs.
One other interesting find: The longer it’s been since a person has gone to the gym, the less likely they were to form a new habit of going.