Self-Help Advice You Haven't Heard Before

A Realistic Timetable for Getting New Habits to Stick

Plan to keep at it for at least three months. "Behavioral research indicates that it takes 90 days to prepare for change, build a new behavior, become confident in the face of high-risk triggers and move past the likelihood of relapse. Brain research also suggests that it takes a few months of practicing a new behavior to create permanent change. More than 75 percent of people maintain a goal for a week, but then they gradually slip back into old behavior. However, research shows that almost all of the people who maintain a new behavior for three months make the change permanent; the probability of relapse after that period is modest."

Excerpt from Changeology by John C. Norcross, PhD. Copyright 2012 by John C. Norcross, PhD. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc., NY.