To all of you interested, as I am, in the discussion about repetition and
habit change I regret to say that I have no clue as to the origin of the 21
repetitions heuristic. Interestingly enough, I had a lot of training in
classical piano and never heard a word about 21 or 26 perfect performances as
the minimal standard for performance readiness. Perhaps that's why today I'm
not a classical pianist... However I did read interesting things about
mindless versus mindful repetitions (those interested can look up a classical
book by French pianist Alfred Corteaux for which unfortunately I do not have
the complete reference - it's been a long time since then). As a matter of
fact, one heated discussion among musicians and music critics right now is
about the real "quality" of some young players, specially those from the
ex-Soviet Union and from some Asian countries, who perform with perfection but
in a way that many deem as "souless". I wonder if they follow any kind of 21
or 26 repetitions rule...
Bringing the issue to the more mundane world of organizations and management,
one thing that many regard as totally true (at least many practitioners) is
that the established model of behavioral change summarized by "unfreeze -
change - refreeze" is all but useful. Not to mention its assumption that
all-powerful managers can change people from top down as they wish.
Notwithstanding these limitations, this model seems to be the workhorse of
many a course of Organizational Behavior taught at business schools all over
the world. But, changing habits continues to be one of the most crucial
challenges for organizations and executives. And they definitely need more
help from academia.
From my part, I can suggest three references that IMO may be useful for people
interested in new habit formation:
- the article "The Cybernetics of "Self": A Theory of Alcoholism" by Gregory
Bateson, which can be found in the book "Steps to an Ecology of Mind"
(Ballantine Books, New York, 1985);
- the book "Changing for Good" by J. Prochaska, J. Norcross, and C. Diclemente
(Avon Books, New York, 1995), which I am just begining to read but seems
promising (I can't assure right now);
- the book "Living with Our Genes" by D. Hamer and P. Copeland (Doubleday, New
York, 1998), which can be particularly polemic but is the recommended reading
to psychology and OB departments because science is actually what they do,
right?
I'd appreciate some other references and inputs on this issue and appologize
for this rambling post (and for not contributing effectively to the solution
of the "21 repetitions puzzle").
Marco Pellegatti