Regardless of the habit we are trying to get into or the one we are trying to break, embedding one will take time. People will need support along the way
Awesome – one of the only words we can use for the image of Nicole Kidman’s arms on the cover of Perfect Magazine this month
Many of us at MaCher are in awe at the dedication that it takes to pursue fitness to this level. Now don’t get us wrong, we’re not slouches. We work out through hiking, running, dancing and cycling and even have a triathlete among our team! Our team’s efforts, while commendable, look to be a little more ‘relaxed’ than Ms Kidman’s however!
Habits need consistency
Supporting a new fitness (or any other) habit requires consistency. Research shows that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. (Phillippa Lally, European Journey of Social Psychology, 2009, also Gardner, Lally and Wardle, 2012). To even start on our biceps, we are going to need a full two months of getting up every morning for a workout to even begin feel like a normal part of our daily routine.
Admittedly, muscles and fitness might not be for everyone. But habits and routines come in all forms. Regardless of the habit we are trying to get into or the one we are trying to break, embedding one will take time and people will need support along the way.
Using products to embed new habits
People tend to fail at creating new habits by failing to prepare for them. Too often we are stuck in our ways and do the same things day after day. In Habits — A Repeat Performance, the researchers found that around 40% of people’s behaviours are repeated on a daily basis in the same situations at the same times. Changing to new behavior requires making new efforts regularly and unfailingly.
Recognizing this, we have been helping our clients find ways to encourage and embed new habits for their customers. Remembering to take vitamins is simpler with a day-by-day container; cooking fresh vegetables is easier with a binder to store the recipes that come with the food box; attending to a regular facial cleansing regime is easier with a beautiful face cloth.
Creating reusable and sustainably-sourced products that specifically support the psychology of habit formation is a specialist area of ours. We’ve been using strategies that encourage the behaviors our clients would like to see and reduce relapse and churn along the way.
Our data proves it. Make it a habit to contact MaCher to find out more!