Setting the time limit too short can be too challenging for some habit changes though. Especially changing (addictive) habits have detoxing effects and need your body to adjust to the absence of the associated chemicals (like nicotine). I haven’t found addictions where the addicting effects do not fade away withing 30 days. So 30 days seems a safe general estimate.

The passive pattern is one in which the individual is influenced heavily by the environment, just as in your ‘conditioning’ category of habit adoption.

The reactive pattern appears when an individual’s genetic makeup causes others to treat them in specific ways, leading to reinforcement of specific traits. This is similar to both your ‘copying’ and ‘experience’ categories since it involves our reaction to the environment, though not necessarily a fully conscious reaction.

Finally the active pattern is seen when the individual consciously decides how they interact with the environment. Choice.

Another way to look at the benefits of habits is to consider that every habit satisfies a need. You’d be able to identify that need in step 2 and 5, and when you get to step 6 you should see that what you identified as the upsides of the desired habit satisfies the need at least as well as upsides of the current habit, while removing at least some of the downsides. So I think what you’ve highlighted here is that changing habits is about improving the ways in which we satisfy our needs.

I’m glad you mentioned that there is no science to support the 30 day period of habit change. The common assumption is based upon work by Dr Maxwell Maltz, and his work and theories were based upon case studies (and he said 21 days). Freud’s widely (though not entirely) discredited theories shows the danger of developing theories based purely upon case studies. More recent work by neuroscientists such as Ann Graybiel have not mentioned any specific time limit. And it would be surprising if there were any limits. As you mentioned in step 12, it’s possible that further work would be required even after 30 days. On the flip side, suppose you walk to work every day via the same path. Then one day you’re almost run over by a car. Suppose that experience scares you so much that you refuse to walk the same way again. There you go, habit changed, almost instantly.

On the other hand, having specific goals has been shown to be motivating, so setting a deadline can be beneficial.

PS: Sorry for the length of my comment, I got a little carried away

Interesting stuff on the 30 day time period. But I can’t keep myself from wondering whether ‘if you start changing a habit on the day of the New Moon (or within 3,5 days afterwards), it’s a lot easier to succeed’ is a belief. How do you know this is true? What if you just told yourself every starting day would make it easy to succeed?

Thanks so much for entering Erin and my contest and for such a thoughtful response!