Change Your Identity
๐งถ Tags:: #Fleeting_Notes #๐ฟ
Resources:: Atomic Habits
Links::
2021-10-14 - 11:55
Most of us work from outcome to identity, but we should work to make our habits an identity of ourselves.
When we solve problems for outcomes and results, we only solve them temporarily, but when we make it our identity we work beyond that and solve things on systemic level.
When it's part of our identity, work for it all the time.
"I want to get fit because I want to lose weight", is an outcomes based habit, Vs "I'm a person who wants to be healthy, so I'll go to the gym and take care of my body", is an identity based approach.
Once you reach your weight goal in the first one, you'll start doing unhealthy things again, but with the second one even when you reach your ideal weight you'll continue to keep the good habits because you identify yourself as a healthy person.
Here are some things that you'll come across as you try this method:
You Might Think You're a Fake
At first, it'll be hard to accept the identity you're trying to achieve. You might also feel like you're a faker in the beginning. Or it might seem unfathomable to visualize yourself as that person.
This will happen for some time and can be easy or hard to manage depending on how big of a jump it is from your current reality.
Don't Create a Rigid Identity
It's easy to think about how you want to be and create very rigid constraints around that identity.
For example: If you're trying to become a healthy person who goes to the gym 5 times a week, but for some reason you couldn't do it at some point. You might think of it as a big failure, but you need to realize that, these kinds of things will happen to everyone at some point or another.