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Explained in plain English

Where did 21 days come from?

The idea that habits form in 21 days originated from a plastic surgeon in the 1960s, Dr. Maxwell Maltz. He observed that his patients took around 21 days to adjust to new faces or limbs. While his work was about adapting to change, it was later misinterpreted as the time needed to form a new behaviour.

Stories that explain this

Habits take 59 to 335 days to form, not just 21 days

This explainer came from a news story

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