Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to Your Goals This Year
Five takeaways:
Our habits are building blocks of our identities. So: to make a new habit stick, we have to make it a part of who we are.
- Goals such as “I want to lose 20 pounds” or “I want to squat 300 pounds” are not identity-based goals. They are outcome-based goals, which provide an easier path to disappointment.
- Changing your beliefs isn’t nearly as hard as you might think. There are two steps: First, decide the type of person you want to be. Second, prove it to yourself with small wins. Incremental changes provide a feeling of momentum and growth.
- Choosing that new identity takes careful calculation. The power of choosing a new identity 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?
- For instance, say you want to lose weight. Change your identity to be someone who moves more, every day. Achieve the small wins of buying a pedometer, then walking an extra 100 steps per day. Then 200. Continue ratcheting up.
- The identity-based habit approach forces you to become the type of person who can achieve the things you want to achieve. The identity comes first– the results can come later.
By James Clear:
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