As humans, we all crave a sense of stability and routine in our lives. It is highly important that we have balance and structure in our academic life, work, and hobbies. Personally, I found that I struggled with forming habits and effectively integrating them into my life until I stumbled upon the 21/90 rule.
The rule is to commit to one of your goals for 21 days straight and subconsciously it will turn into a habit. Once this habit has been established within those three weeks, you must continue it for another 90 days until it becomes a permanent part of your lifestyle.
With this timeline, it almost seems easier said than done. Especially if you already find it difficult to commit to doing a specific task every single day. The main skepticism about this rule is the fact that people have a fixed mindset about it not working.
People knock down the idea before even trying. We must remove the intrusive, negative thoughts we may have about it because in reality, the only thing stopping us is ourselves. This skepticism denies many people of an actual shot at life, one that they truly wish to start pursuing. Once we reach past this stage, the only thing we have to focus on is our dedication to commit to it and how much we choose to invest in ourselves.
When it comes to deciding how you would like to get started, the process should be exciting and easy. It is normal for the process to leave feelings of uncertainty initially, we are always anxious when it comes to change. However, it is crucial to remember that this is something that we have been wanting to do for the enrichment of our lives as a whole.
First, it’s important to choose something that you know will improve your quality of life whether it be in a major way or something small that you wanted to focus on. It also has to be something that you know you can accomplish every day, which is why I would suggest starting with something small first, no matter where you are.
This goal should also be something that you are actually interested in because you have to keep in mind that it is something that you will be committing to for a long time. With that said, it is also perfectly fine to have a trial and error period, this is something that I learned from my own experience with the 21/90 rule.
As I previously mentioned, I found it hard to narrow down what goal I wanted to focus on. For the majority of my life, I have always struggled to stick to one particular thing I liked, therefore I was never able to form a hobby or a routine, to begin with. A lot of my life has been very “go with the flow” and see what happens until I realized this mindset no longer served my highest purpose. I knew it was time for a change.
My goal was to journal at least once a day. I decided to go with something easy that I knew was not too hard to accomplish as an everyday task. At first, I found it really difficult to stick to because I almost started treating it like a chore rather than something I actually wanted to do.
I had to break out of this way of thinking because it was actually a really positive thing for me to do since it allows me to channel all of my inner thoughts somewhere. I found myself procrastinating doing it as well which also stressed me out.
Before giving up on this rule, I realized that I was the issue. I was making it harder on myself than I actually had to. I had to stop treating it like a rule because in reality, no matter what I did, I was the only one being affected.
So, who cares if I missed one day of journaling? Who cares if I don’t do it at the exact same time every day?
I had to realize that it does not matter how you choose to do your goal or if you follow a routine with it. This is all completely up to you because at least you are still doing it. I ended up journaling every day for those three weeks because I set a reminder on my phone to do it. What surprised me was that after a while, I just started journaling automatically without even realizing it.
It was truly integrated into my daily routine and I was doing it happily as if it were like brushing my teeth. I learned that this does not have to be a restrictive process, it is totally up to your interpretation of how you want to treat it. It can be a very up and down process and that’s okay! As long as you continue to do it in a way that helps you.
Tag us on Instagram, @HerCampusSJSU if you are thinking about trying the 21/90 rule!