Mastering Habits: How to Develop Good Habits, Break Bad Habits, and Understand How Much Time It Takes—Through Fitness, Food, and Travel

A Journey Begins with a Small Habit

Imagine this. You’re boarding a flight for a long-awaited trip to Bali. The buzz of the airport surrounds you—coffee in one hand, boarding pass in the other. You tell yourself: This time will be different. I’ll keep my workouts going, I’ll eat healthy even while exploring new cuisines, and I won’t fall back into those old lazy routines.

But somewhere between jet lag, irresistible street food, and a missed morning run, you feel your good habits slipping. The voice in your head whispers: Maybe I’ll start again when I’m back home.

Sound familiar? That’s the tug-of-war between good habits and bad habits—a struggle shaped not by willpower alone, but by how habits are built, broken, and sustained. And if you’ve ever wondered how long it actually takes to make a habit stick, science has some surprising answers.

Why Habits Rule Our Lives

Researchers say nearly 40% of what we do daily is habit, not conscious choice (Wendy Wood, USC psychologist). That means almost half of our lives run on autopilot. Think about it:

Do you tie your shoes differently each morning?
Do you rethink brushing your teeth?
Or do you just do it?

That’s the power of habits. In fitness, it’s the person who never misses a morning jog because it’s simply “part of the day.” In food, it’s choosing water over soda without hesitation. In travel, it’s the explorer who always finds time for a sunrise stretch no matter the city.

Habits, good or bad, quietly shape the outcomes of our health, energy, and adventures.

The Habit Loop: Cue, Routine, Reward

Here’s a story. On one of my trips to Italy, I noticed locals grabbing espresso shots at the same café every morning. The routine was so engrained it almost felt like choreography: cue (seeing the café), behavior (ordering espresso), reward (caffeine jolt and social buzz).

This is what Charles Duhigg calls the habit loop in The Power of Habit.

Cue: the trigger (waking up in a hotel, the smell of food, airport stress).
Routine: the behavior (workout, snack, or skipping both).
Reward: the feeling you get (energized, satisfied, or comforted).

To develop good habits, you amplify the cues and rewards. To break bad habits, you remove the triggers or make the routine harder.

How Long Does It Really Take?

We’ve all heard the myth: “It takes 21 days to build a habit.”
But science disagrees.

A 2009 study by Phillippa Lally and her team at University College London tracked people forming simple habits like drinking water after meals. They discovered it took anywhere from 18 to 254 days, with the average around 66 days. That’s more than two months—not three weeks.

Later research suggests fitness-related habits (like exercising regularly) can take closer to 3–5 months to stick. In fact, some people may need up to six months before routines feel automatic.

Takeaway? Habits are not microwavable. They’re slow-cooked. But once baked in, they free up mental energy for bigger adventures.

Discipline: The Secret Ingredient

Picture this: you’re in Tokyo. It’s raining. You’re jet-lagged. The thought of heading to the hotel gym feels impossible. Motivation is gone.

This is where discipline enters. Motivation sparks the journey, but discipline sustains it. As author James Clear (Atomic Habits) notes, habits thrive not on bursts of enthusiasm but on consistent repetition.

Discipline is why travelers still do 20 pushups on the hotel floor, why food lovers pick grilled fish over deep-fried snacks, and why jet-setters stretch after 12-hour flights. Discipline is the quiet hero of transformation.

How to Develop Good Habits While Traveling, Eating Well, and Staying Fit

Let’s ground this in real life with strategies you can carry on the road.

1. Shrink the Habit

Start with something ridiculously small. Instead of saying, “I’ll work out for an hour,” tell yourself, “I’ll do 10 squats after brushing my teeth.” Tiny habits snowball into powerful ones.

2. Use Travel as a Cue

Traveling often disrupts routines—but it can also reset them. A new hotel room can become the cue: place your yoga mat where you can’t miss it.

3. Plan Food Habits Ahead

Pack a few go-to healthy snacks for flights. Research one healthy restaurant at each new destination. Reducing friction helps you default to better choices.

4. Stack Habits

Link new habits to old ones. Example: after every morning coffee, do a 5-minute stretch. In a new city? Use sightseeing walks as your step count ritual.

5. Reward Yourself

In Rome, I rewarded a consistent morning workout streak with a guilt-free gelato at night. Rewards don’t have to derail progress—they keep the loop alive.

How to Break Bad Habits (Without Feeling Deprived)

Breaking bad habits is less about stopping, and more about replacing.

Identify the Cue: Do you always grab chips on road trips because boredom hits?
Swap the Routine: Replace chips with nuts or fruit.
Keep the Reward: You still satisfy the “snacking urge,” but with better fuel.

And sometimes, make the bad habit inconvenient. If you know fast food is your weakness, don’t save the location in your maps app. Make it harder. Habits follow the path of least resistance.

Story from the Road: A Traveler’s Transformation

I once met Anna, a backpacker from Sweden, during a trek in Peru. She had a fascinating story. Years before, her bad habit was skipping breakfast and surviving on sugary snacks while traveling. She often crashed mid-hike, exhausted.

So she set one discipline-driven goal: always eat a protein-rich breakfast, no matter where she was. It started with eggs in hostel kitchens, then oatmeal packets she carried on trips. Three months in, she realized she no longer “needed” junk snacks to keep going.

Her habit loop was rewritten: cue (morning), behavior (protein breakfast), reward (sustained energy). By the time we trekked the Andes, her new habit wasn’t just routine—it was survival.

Timeframe for Your Habit Journey

Here’s a realistic timeline:

Weeks 1–2: Motivation is high. You’re excited. Set cues and rewards.
Weeks 3–8: Motivation dips. Discipline keeps you consistent. Habits begin to take root.
Months 3–6: The behavior feels more automatic. Missing a day doesn’t throw you off.

Think of it like training for a marathon. The first runs hurt, the middle is a grind, but eventually, your legs carry you forward without thought.

The Habits That Carry You Far

In fitness, food, and travel, habits are the silent architects of success.

Good habits free you to enjoy life fully.
Bad habits weigh you down, quietly draining energy and potential.
Discipline, more than motivation, sustains the journey.
And science shows—it may take 2 to 6 months to truly transform a habit.

So next time you’re packing for a trip or planning your meals, remember: you don’t need to change your life overnight. You just need one tiny, repeated action—day after day—until the habit no longer feels like work, but like freedom.

Because in the end, it’s not about the habit itself. It’s about the kind of traveler, eater, and human being those habits allow you to become.

How to Develop Good Habits, Break Bad Habits