Two months to change our habits forever

Researchers in London found that when an underground station is closed for two months, the majority of people in the area do not return to use it on a daily basis. They will continue to travel to work by bicycle, carpool or bus. The science of habit formation is more or less unanimous that on average it takes 66 days to permanently change people's behaviour.

I am writing this blog post in the seventh week of the Finnish state of emergency. We are now approaching the moment in the global human experiment caused by the coronavirus when many of the things we think are temporary begin to become permanent habits.

For a while we lived under the collective delusion that, as if by magic, life would return to normal. But slowly we are beginning to accept that the pandemic will continue to impose restrictions on life for a long time to come, and need to free our minds to think that there is something to come back to. Instead of looking back, we need to start building new habits for ourselves and for society as a whole.

It is still impossible to predict the big lines that are beyond our control: how deep a global recession will follow the crisis, how long we will have to wait for a vaccine, or what impact on world power politics different national interest rate strategies will have. But in a crisis, courage is about making the best judgement of the right direction in the face of uncertain circumstances and moving decisively towards it within the limits of what you can influence.

Making an honest judgement involves a sense of sadness about the world that is being left behind. Alongside the big global phenomena, there are many small ways that we are currently missing: the constant planning of trips made possible by mass tourism, restaurant dinners with friends or even joint football training sessions. Giving these up is a burden, and we must be merciful to ourselves. It takes time to accept the new situation.

Everyone is going through a huge range of emotions at the moment, and it is a coincidence how everyone's life adjusts to the new normal. Many are alone, while many believe they would be happier alone. Some dread customer service work, others see remote work as an opportunity to shine, others balance between their children's distance learning and an important remote workshop. The key to experiencing empathy is to try to understand how different everyone's life circumstances are, and how the effects of exceptional circumstances are not evenly distributed.

New ways of life are being formed now, and each of us will influence by our example and actions what kind of world we build to replace the old.

Remember to pick up the phone and ask people how they are? Can you think of new ways we can make each other's lives better?

There is also a business case to be made. How will your business and skills adapt to a world where habits are changing?

For example, it goes without saying that as restrictions are lifted, the stigma associated with teleworking will disappear. But a far more intriguing question is what will follow. How will we better learn to deal with situations in the future where meetings involve people both remotely and from the same room? And in the bigger picture: will expensive office buildings become empty as the role of physical workspaces changes?

Behind similar headline-level obvious things like takeaway food or online food shopping, there is also a wide range of questions about how our relationship with food, restaurants and cooking will now change permanently. New ways of serving need new ways of doing business.

In two months, we have learned to move away from many of our old ways. So ask yourself every day what are the new habits you want to adopt - and teach to others.

Lassi Kurkijärvi

The author is CEO of Proof Advisor, a company that commercialises innovation and builds international growth in Finnish b2b companies. In his spare time, Lassi is the Chairman of the Board of Sylva and a member of the Team Rynkeby - God Morgon charity cycling team in Helsinki.