A 21 day life-changing experiment

by joe on September 18, 2007

Scientists say it takes 21 days to form a new habit (or break an old one). Think about that. If you want to change your life, or your attitude, you can do it in 3 weeks. You just need to keep the streak up for that long.

Complaint bracelet

It’s harder than it sounds. 21 days can be a long time if you’re trying to kick an old habit. So what habit are we going to try to break?

Complaining.

You don’t realize how much you complain until you make an effort to catch yourself doing it. People complain about everything- and the most trivial things. The price of gas, the phone system at work, their credit card bills, some item on the news- everyone’s got something to complain about. So here’s the experiment.

Stop complaining. That’s it. Do it cold turkey. A group of people in Missouri even made a program out of it. You can request a purple bracelet for a small donation (to cover shipping).  Why do you want a bracelet? The goal is to stop complaining for 21 days straight. Here’s how it works:

  1. Put on the bracelet
  2. If you catch yourself complaining, switch it to the other hand and start over
  3. When you reach 21 days, you’ll find that you’re a happier, more positive person.

That’s it. You’re a creature of habit. If you can pick up the habit of being positive, and not complaining, the world will be that much better. Think about it on a grander scale. Over 5 million bracelets have been requested. Think about a world with 5 million fewer people complaining all the time. Why not make it 5,000,001?

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Me? Complain? « I thought I would have it together by now …
September 24, 2007 at 4:45 pm

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Becky September 24, 2007 at 4:35 pm

I love this idea! I didn’t think I complained that much, but I caught myself pretty quickly. I will be requesting a bracelet.

Wahoo October 5, 2007 at 8:27 pm

Thank you for sharing!

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