The Daily Mastery Podcast by Robin Sharma
Welcome to the Daily Mastery Podcast by Robin Sharma where you’ll receive the mental models, daily routines, and productivity tactics that Robin Sharma has taught to the titans of industry, sports superstars, and elite performers who he has served as a private mentor to for over 31 years. You'll learn how to live a truly world-class life while you accelerate your productivity, grow your leadership, build your business, and scale your impact on the world.
The Daily Mastery Podcast by Robin Sharma
The 66-Day Minimum Habit Installation Protocol
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Commit to the right routines, practice them daily and within 66 days they’ll wire in as automatic, making them easier to do than not to do. [I call this The 66-Day Minimum Protocol and the research comes from The University College of London].
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It takes 66 days of practicing a new routine to reach the point of automaticity. And automaticity simply means you start to do the routine easily. What made the great ones, the great ones was what they did every day. In other words, their daily habits. So let me give you an example. The 5AM Club. A lot of people have learned my philosophy that I've been teaching for over 20 years about rising before the sun. If you wanted to dial in and make rising at 5AM automatic. It'll be a 66-day process according to University College of London. And so that routine will go through, or any routine will go through three phases. The first roughly 22 days is about destruction. Destruction. You see, you've got to let go of your old routines and install new ones. And so that first 22 days is you're destroying your old mindsets, your old belief systems, your old practices, your old habits. And so the first 22 days of getting up at 5AM they're going to feel like a destruction. It's almost like a home renovation. You've got to tear down the old foundations before better foundations can be installed. Okay, phase number two, roughly 22 days of the 66-day process. Installing any new habit is all about installation. Well this is where we're installing the new neural architecture of the habit you want to install. If it's the 5M club. This is the messy middle in the brain tattoo. All changes hard at first, messy in the middle, gorgeous at the end. You see, you're not quite to the point of automaticity around the new routine, but you're not destroying old patterns. It's right in that 22-day middle. And it's sort of, you're in new territory. You're in the blue ocean. There might be some confusion. There might be some exhaustion. But just remember, if it wasn't messy, it wouldn't be real change. And what the victim does, and I know you're not a victim, but what the victim does is as they encounter difficulty and discomfort, they wave the white flag and they say, Well, mom couldn't get up at five, dad couldn't get up at five, grandpa couldn't get up at five. I guess I don't have early morning genes. What the victim does is they say, "wow, this is hard. Boo hoo. I can't be more positive. I can't be better at my craft. I can't have more energy by exercising daily." You see, it's that mentality of can't and so they stop installing the right routines. Here's a key point to remember. in this middle phase of the habit installation protocol. Just because you couldn't do something before doesn't mean you can't do it now. And also remember, world class is not an event, it's a process that takes about 66 days. See, a lot of people say, I can't do this new routine. It's not because they couldn't do the new routine, it's because they didn't stay with it for 66 days to allow their brain and their body to wire in and recode the new habit. So, after phase number one, which is destruction, after phase number two, installation, you're going to get to the final phase of habit installation, which is all about integration. Now you're on the short roads. Now it starts getting easier. And at the end of approximately 66 days, according to the research, the new habit will now become easier to do than not to do. I mean, just think about it. Anything that you're really great at, was once hard. Another thing to remember is all professionals began as amateurs and every master was once a beginner. Go through this 66 day process and eventually you're going to get to the 60 day automaticity point where getting up at five or being the most positive, generous person you know or dialing in a daily routine or working like Picasso painted, or turning off the news and reading something good, or spending more time with your family every night, maybe it's a private meal or a family dinner, it will become easier to do the new routine or new habit than not to do it. You see, you are built to embrace new habits. It just takes the process I've walked you through.