7Breaths

We all know how important having goals are and I'm sure many of us have got into the habit of writing our goals down to help ensure success. I've been doing this since reading Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins, where he quotes a study -
In 1953, researchers surveyed Yale's graduating seniors to determine how many of them had specific, written goals for their future. The answer: 3%. Twenty years later, researchers polled the surviving members of the Class of 1953 -- and found that the 3% with goals had accumulated more personal financial wealth than the other 97% of the class combined.

Seems great - and so simple, unfortunately it appears this study has never been done! Fast Company has a great article about it, as does Positive Psychology.

I'm not sure where this leaves me and my goals, intuitively I feel having written goals does help - but again where is this evidence for this?

I've been involved recently in an interesting discussion with Stephen over at HDBizBlog, regarding the time it takes to establish a new habit. The accepted wisdom is it takes 21 days - but researching into this has revealed some interesting points. The full discussion can be found here & here. The main points are:

Maxwell Maltz wrote a book in 1960 called Psycho-Cybernetics. It was in this book that the idea of 21 days first arose.

All other sources quote this book as proof of the 21 day time frame.

The book seems to offer no firm scientific evidence that it takes 21 days to establish a new habit - just the authors empirical observations.

So a whole raft of self help literature all quote a single source from over 40 years ago, a source that does not seem scientifically based. Is this something we should be accepting when trying to change our habits?

Don't always accept conventional wisdom - do your own research. If your habit takes longer to establish you are not a failure - some habits can take longer depending on a multitude of factors.

More on habits later...