Do you know who you are? Do you know who you want to be? And the really big question–are you ALREADY who you want to be?
January is the time to get very, very real with ourselves. Many of us have an idea of who we are, and oftentimes that idea we have of ourselves is part reality and part hopeful fantasy.
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about building identity-based habits. According to Clear, there are three levels where change can happen–changing outcomes (what you get), changing your process (what you do), and the deepest layer–changing your identity (what you believe). They’re all important, but the recipe for sustained success is starting with identity and working outward.
First step–decide the type of person you want to be. What do you want to stand for? What are your values? Who do you want to become?
Clear encourages us to ask ourselves this powerful question: Who is the type of person that could get the outcome I want?
He names a simple two-step recipe for sustained success:
- Decide the type of person you want to be.
- Prove it to yourself with small wins.
Let’s look at a revenue goal, as an example. We work with a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs, and there’s always a revenue goal. So the outcome you would ultimately want is to make X percentage more in revenue this year.
If you ask yourself, who is the type of person that could get this outcome–you might decide it’s someone who consistently and meaningfully makes contact with colleagues, referral sources and past clients.
You would focus on proving to yourself that you ARE this person, before you really start focusing on the revenue results. The small wins that reinforce this might be: blocking one hour a day to reach out to people, and having one coffee date per week.
Focusing on identity-based habits means that you can rely LESS on motivation (which is important but fluctuates), and MORE on identity.
The way you become the person you want to be is to EMBODY that person, right now. Say to yourself and others–out loud–”I am the type of person who…” Take action today that is EXACTLY what that person would do.
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