RESERVE JUDGMENT FOR 21 DAYS

Do not allow yourself to become discouraged if nothing
seems to happen when you set about practicing the
various techniques outlined in this book for changing
your self-image. Instead reserve judgment—and go on
practicing—for a minimum period of 21 days.
It usually requires a minimum of about 21 days to
effect any perceptible change in a mental image. Following
plastic surgery it takes about 21 days for the average
patient to get used to his new face. When an arm or leg
is amputated the "phantom limb" persists for about 21
days. People must live in a new house for about three
weeks before it begins to "seem like home." These, and
may other commonly observed phenomena tend to show

that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old
mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.
Therefore you will derive more benefit from this book
if you will secure your own consent to reserve critical
judgment for at least three weeks. During this time do not
be continually looking over your shoulder, so to speak,
or trying to measure your progress. During these 21 days
do not argue intellectually with the ideas presented, do
not debate with yourself as to whether they will work or
not. Perform the exercises, even if they seem impractical
to you. Persist in playing your new role, in thinking of
yourself in new terms, even if you seem to yourself to be
somewhat hypocritical in doing so, and even if the new
self-image feels a little uncomfortable or "unnatural."
You can neither prove nor disprove with intellectual
argument the ideas and concepts described in this book,
or simply by talking about them. You can prove them to
yourself by doing them and judging results for yourself.
I am only asking that you reserve critical judgment and
analytical argument for 21 days so that you will give
yourself a fair chance to prove or disprove their validity
in your own life.
The building of an adequate self image is something
that should continue throughout a lifetime. Admittedly
you cannot accomplish a lifetime of growth in three weeks'
time. But, you can experience improvement within three
weeks' time—and sometimes the improvement is quite
dramatic.