Microsoft Word who will cry when u die doc

49. 
Remember the Rule of 21 
As I wrote in The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, it takes about 21 days to develop a new habit. Yet most people 
give up on creating a positive life change after only the first few days when they experience the stress and pain 
that is always associated with replacing old behaviors with new ones. New habits are much like a new pair of 
shoes: for the first few days, they will feel uncomfortable. But if you break them in for about three weeks, they 
will fit a second skin. 
 
As human beings, we are genetically programmed to resist change and maintain a state of equilibrium. 
The condition, known as homeostasis, evolved naturally over time as a means by which our ancestors could 
survive constantly changing conditions. The problem is that the mechanism works to keep things as they are 
even when more favorable possibilities exist. And that is why we have such difficulty adopting new habits and 
overcoming the gravitational forces that prevent us from moving to higher levels of living. 
 
But just as a rocket uses more fuel during the first few minutes after lift – off than it does over the days 
that follow when it will cover more than half a million miles, once you get past those first 21 days you will find 
that staying on course with a new habit will be far easier than you imagined. Take the time to study your 
personal habits and promise to make the necessary changes. The quality of your life will be determined in large 
measure by the nature of your habits. John Dryden observed, “We first make our habits and then our habits 
make us.” While Virginia Woolf wrote, “the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame.” So ensure that 
your habits move you forward rather than hold you back. In the timeless words of Publilius Syrus, “Powerful 
indeed is the empire of habit.”  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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