“Identity is about what you believe.” ~ James Clear
Regarding identity-based habits, the focus is always on who you wish to become. The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity, writes James Clear.
It is a simple two-step process:
- Decide the type of person you want to be.
- Prove it to yourself with small incremental improvements and wins.
“Ask yourself, “Who is the type of person that could get the outcome I want?”
“The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become.”
“Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”
“Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.”
In order to believe in a new identity, we have to prove it to ourselves.
Identity-Based Habits
The key to building lasting habits is focusing on creating a new identity first. Your current behaviors are simply a reflection of your current identity.
What you do now is a mirror image of the type of person you believe that you are (either consciously or subconsciously).
To change your behavior for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself. You need to build identity-based habits.
The process of changing your habits start by focusing on who we wish to become.
The Recipe for Sustained Success
Changing your beliefs isn’t nearly as hard as you might think. There are two steps.
1. Decide the type of person you want to be.
2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.
First, decide who you want to be. This holds at any level—as an individual, as a team, as a community, as a nation. What do you want to stand for? What are your principles and values? Who do you wish to become?
These are big questions, and many people aren’t sure where to begin—but they do know what kind of results they want: to get six-pack abs or to feel less anxious or to double their salary. That’s fine; start there and work backward from the results you want to the type of person who could get those results. Ask yourself, “Who is the type of person that could get the outcome I want?”
“The real reason habits matter is not because they can get you better results (although they can do that), but because they can change your beliefs about yourself,” James Clear contends.
References:
- Sam T. Davis, Atomic Habits by James Clear, Sam T. Davis.
- James Clear, Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to Your Goals This Year…an excerpt from Atomic Habits, James Clear.