Scientific Statistical Data Means Nothing to Me.

Habits (no, not Hobbits; that's an entirely different thing) feel like they can take an eternity to form and what seems like a millisecond to break.  There are quite a few different opinions on how habits are formed and broken, and how long it takes to do either.  

Google and Wikipedia, which have entirely replaced the Encyclopedia Britannica, gives a number of references which all point to the following time lines for making and breaking a habit:

1. To make a habit it apparently takes an average 66 days.  
2. To Break a habit it takes only 21 days.  

I'm going to refute both of these numbers as preposterous and completely flawed.   I'm pretty sure there is some fellow in a lab coat who makes way to much money and believes himself to be intellectually superior to the gaggle of interns he oversees that has come up with these numbers.  And they all have various degrees and levels of education, and they think to study the brain and its infinite workings.  

If a person were to ask one of these said interns about the work they do, I imagine the following image, based on how it would e described, would come to mind:

And yes, this is a stock photo from Bones, with people actively involved in solving a murder.  I would imagine an intern, working to solve the mysteries of the many complexities of the brain would see his or her work far more important than that of a murder.  And he or she would probably show far more enthusiasm for the project too.

Years of work goes into these projects, countless hours of studies and homework, equations written on chalkboards, and copious of amounts of pizza deliveries over late night and sleep deprived discussions on theories and hypothesis.

I feel like this may be the reality, but I refuse to accept it.

In my mind, I see this:

Yeah, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is a bad ass.  And clearly his idea of scientific discovery is far more in line with my own than that of the "Bones" types.  I'm not sure Beaker really counts as an intern.  After all, the good Dr. often refers to Beaker as his "Assistant".  Further, I feel like Beaker is far more dedicated to the cause than any standard intern.  His level of loyalty goes so far beyond that of a person looking to get his name on a published paper.  Its more along the lines of a life debt like that of Chewbacca (side note:  Really Google and FireFox??  I had to add Chewbacca into the spell check dictionary??  Pathetic. 👎) in relation to Han Solo.  The sheer amount of torture and pain which Beaker endures in the name of Scientific Discovery is mind boggling.  He's a true and ardent follower and believer in Science!

My own version of science is not specifically as dangerous as that of the good Dr and his loyal assistant.  It may, however, be just as haphazard.  It may not have the scope of years of work and piles of accumulated data.  What do I have?

Real world application.  Real world results.  First hand experience.  Practical application.

Case in point:  Cleaning the litter box.  Abner has been milling about and causing a raucous now for the better portion of about 6 months.  And of course, he is an indoor cat only.  So the litter box gets it's fair share of action (none from me, mind you;  I would never fit in it).  Maintenance of the cat box is an imperative thing.  It must happen.  Failing to do so has a fairly immediate impact on the olfactory senses.  And when you home isn't exactly a mansion, it doesn't take much and the evidence of a failed litter box maintenance permeates every room.

Now, I should point out I'm not a total slob.  I like to keep things somewhat tidy.  However, the act of cleaning the cat box daily is something that still escapes me.  Lets go back to the numbers:

1. 66 days to make a habit.  I don't have the exact date of Abner's move in very handy.But 6 months is a pretty good estimate.  This equates to 180 days.  That is nearly 3 times the amount of time it supposedly takes to make a habit.  Anyone who knows me probably is thinking to themselves, "There is no way he's cleaned that littler box everyday for 6 months straight".  Well of course not!! Otherwise, I wouldn't be making this ridiculous post in the first place.  I feel like my daily maintenance record far is 4 days.  This is painfully shy of the 66 day timeline for habit making.
2. 21 days to break a habit:  Well, I can't actually vouch for this one.  I have come nowhere near the actual goal of making a habit out of this.  Further, I don't know which of my habits I have are newly acquired, so I still have nothing to base this on.

As I said, real world application and real world results.  Thank you Dr. Honeydew, for proving an invaluable example of scientific research and results evaluation.

And thank you Beaker, for simply being awesome.