Episode: 111

Episode Title: Say No—So You Can Say Yes

How are those New Year’s resolutions coming? It’s all about replacing old habits with new ones—and this takes more than 21 days. Stay tuned to find out more!

Ep 111 show:

Hello and happy Monday—you’re now in The Perna Syndicate! It’s now the second week of January, and if you’ve made any New Year resolutions, this might be where the motivation starts to, well, peter out a bit. 

New habits are hard to create. According to one well-publicized study, it takes 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit. Then it takes 66 days, on average, for a new behavior to become automatic. It all depends on the person, the habit, and how much time, motivation, and resources you have to form that new habit. But for most people, 21 days to a new habit is a myth.

When you break it down, forming a new habit is actually a two-step process. Most likely, you want to create good habits to replace the bad ones. That means you have to, number one, stop performing the bad habit, and then number two, start performing the good habit. 

For example, to change your diet, it’s not just about eating healthier food. It’s first resisting the impulse to buy the less-than-healthy stuff. To curb your spending, you can’t just add more money to your savings. You have to stop spending it first.

The bottom line is this: You have to say no to one thing, in order to say yes to another. The more you say no, so that you can say yes, the more engrained that habit will become. No one starts at neutral on their journey toward better habits. 

There’s probably lots of things you want to say yes to in 2021. I know there are for me. But what do we need to say no to, first? 

There’s more to the Syndicate at MarkCPerna.com. Check in for fresh content posted weekly. We’ll see you tomorrow!