Hi Perna -- I haven't looked up any research on this. I'm just going with what I've been told and what I infer.

First, I put myself through 6-week outpatient treatment programs twice -- once for addictions and once for co-dependency. In that program, we were given the figure "28 days" to ingrain a new habit.

Second, I've done a fair amount of reading and study about creativity. All the "brain-busting" and "think out of the box" activities are, as I understand it, to create new synapses in the brain. One writer -- I think it was Edward de Bono -- explained it this way:

Imagine a bowl of red Jello, turned upside down on a platter, so it's a gelatin mountain.

Now, imagine a bowl of hot black ink. Ladle some hot ink on top of the mountain. What will happen? Erosion. The hot ink will cut rivelets into the gelatin. Now, take another ladle of hot ink. What happens? The ink will flow down the same rivelets that have already been cut into the gelatin.

In a similar way, our brain creates electro-patterns across the synapses in our brains. When we are trying to create new patterns -- whether those of innovative thinking or new habits -- we are trying to get the brain synapses to connect in new ways.



From this I infer that doing something three times a day would not have the same effect as doing it every day for 21 or 28 days. I do think it would be useful to do the activity 3 times a day; if nothing else, it would demonstrate supreme commitment to this activity.

Here's my reasoning on why 3x/day for 7 days doesn't = 1x/day for 21 days. If I decide that I am going to exercise 3 times a day, at the end of 10 days I have developed the habit of exercising when I arise, after lunch, and before bedtime. But this means I have 10 days of performing this habit upon arising; 10 days of performing this habit at lunch; and 10 days of performing this habit at bedtime.

A 10-day habit is, presumably, less engrained than a 21 or 28-day habit. Were I to let go of the lunch exercise period (too busy at that time of day), but continue with the morning exercise for 21-days and the evening for 28 days, my bet would be that the 28-day habit is the one that has the best chance of becoming a lifetime routine.

Again, I am using inference and my limited understanding here. Best wishes with your project. I hope you will let us know the results.