30Days

May 23, 2020 by Francisco Castillo

It is widely known, at least in general terms, that it takes about 30 days to form a habit. More specifically, the research on this topic may conclude on a longer or shorter timeframe. We can at least presume that it is directionally correct; tasks performed repeatedly will become part of your lifestyle. They will become your lifestyle.

Once an action becomes a habit, your brain basically has achieved fluency in that particular action and can therefore put it on autopilot.  This allows the brain to free up willpower to use in more ambiguous and less repetitive tasks where the full processing capabilities of the brain could be more relevant to the decision-making process.

There are few instances when you have to abruptly change your current habits and change them all at once. Like when you must go on full quarantine mode without too much notice. During these circumstances your brain has to switch from having at least 2/3 of the daily functions on autopilot to probably having more than 80% of the functions at the forefront now that the majority are new and require the brain’s full processing power to ensure a safe and optimal outcome.

This can be taxing, to say the least, and could probably account for a considerable amount of the burnout that many people have perceived during the quarantine. Although in the surface it may look like you are doing the same things; wake up routine, breakfast, work time, lunch time, work time, afternoon chores, dinner time, evening leisure, bed time, the way those things are now performed could be considerably different.

The ability of the brain to make decisions could be looked at like an energy or power bar. It gets depleted throughout the day as you undertake new and uncertain thought processes. If on a regular day you devote the energy bar only to new challenges while operating the rest of the activities on autopilot, it could feel that you are optimizing your decision-making skills.

But if with a sudden change of itinerary you have already drained the power bar trying to orchestrate a much more complex breakfast routine, you may have lowered your chances in making optimal decisions for the remainder of the day. Not to mention that you probably feel mentally and physically exhausted and you are only done with breakfast.

This is not to say that we are doomed to make poor decisions when quick changes in the environment forces us to change our ways. The more important lesson is to notice and be aware that this scenario could happen. If you become aware, you can actually do something about it.

Taking aim at what you can control, you can focus first on making sound decisions on the new activities that are low in the spectrum of relevancy and irreversibility. The sooner you get those out of the way the sooner they can become part of the autopilot again. This will naturally be freeing up space and energy for the more complex and intricate decisions of your day.

It would be a good idea to notice how you would like to stack up your new habits when the transition out of quarantine takes place.