🧠⚡Your Habits = Your Identity

Personal Development
Mental · Building Better Habits
Estimated reading ⌛️ time - 7.5 minutes

Habits → Behavior → Identity

Welcome to Reframe! As we journey together towards understanding and building a life of significance, we must first dive into the roots of our identity: our habits. These seemingly modest routines, whether we're conscious of them or not, influence our behaviors, and our behaviors influence our identities.

Another way to think about this is… you are reverse engineering your “ideal” self. What behaviors does your ideal self partake in? If these are the behaviors your “ideal” self does, what habits did your ideal self implement to influence your ideal self’s behavior? Reread that a few times if you need to…

Building the Foundation: Habits 

James Clear, in his book "Atomic Habits," states that habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. These small (atomic) choices, when repeated, accumulate to shape our days and, consequently, our lives. If you are serious about building great, lasting habits - KEEP READING and get yourself a copy of this book.

According to Clear, one of the most effective ways to reinforce a new habit is by making it satisfying or enjoyable.🌝 By immediately rewarding yourself after completing a new habit, you increase the chances of repeating it. This ties into the immediate feedback and the positive emotional experience that helps make a habit stick. (This is just one strategy, of many, that Clear recommends in his book).

For example, everyone who knows me thinks I love working out at 5 AM (which I do), but that wasn’t always the case, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the formation of a rewarding habit routine. On the way to the gym, I reward myself with a Rice Krispies treat (not an ad, but it should be) for getting up early and working out.

My love for Rice Krispies became a disciplined morning ritual I now thoroughly love and enjoy (I still eat the Rice Krispies every morning omw to the gym). This habit became a consistent behavior and is now associated with my identity. My “ideal” self cares about being healthy long-term so I can be a fit and active dad for my future kids. I also want to maximize my lifespan, life quality, health span, etc. Plus I want to look good, feel good, play good… and coach the Colorado Buffs.

The Manifestation: Behavior 

Our consistent habits naturally translate into behaviors. If habits are the seeds, behavior is the plant that sprouts from the ground (shall we say your identity is the flower that blooms from the plant???). Nurtured habits drive consistent behaviors, which, over time, become almost instinctive. But what if you could speed up the cultivation process? Enter "habit stacking," a concept popularized by, you guessed it, James Clear.

Habit stacking involves pairing a current habit with a new one you want to build. Consider it a two-for-one deal: leveraging an already established routine to introduce a fresh one. For example, if you drink a cup of coffee every morning (or three), you could start a new habit of spending five minutes meditating right after. It's an efficient way to introduce new habits into your existing routines.

For example, as part of my 15-minute daily sauna routine, I use that time to read (from my Apple Books app, although I prefer a physical book). I habit-stacked my sauna routine with reading to build a daily reading practice. I’m up to about two (3-4 at the time of this edit) books per month, and a significant chunk of that progress is made reading books in the sauna (which is often interrupted by the guy who answers calls in the sauna). Sauna + Reading = 2x productivity

What new habit can you introduce into your daily routine via habit stacking?I’d love to hear what you all come up with 🙂 

The Final Form: Identity

Habits, through behaviors, shape our identity. Clear's philosophy states, "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become." Our actions, thus, gradually forge our self-image.

By the way, I think practicing affirmations is a great practice → this takes it a step further by saying, “Now go do what you said you’d do”. There’s your proof.

Contrasting Perspective

While Clear emphasizes identity-based habits, some psychologists argue that focusing too much on identity can lead to cognitive dissonance when we falter. It's crucial to remember that while habits influence identity, one misstep doesn't redefine who you are. I’d also like to add that what works for one person may not work for the other, but many of James Clear’s strategies have worked well for me and thousands of others.

Embrace (and expect) setbacks. Instead of internalizing failure, see it as a learning opportunity. One skipped gym day doesn't make you lazy; just human!

The Small Steps Towards Significance 

Remember, our daily habits carve the journey towards reframing our perspectives on success and living a life of significance. As you sip that morning coffee or snack on that Rice Krispies treat on your way to the gym, remember the importance of each small action in crafting the larger story of your life. Until next week, keep reframing and embracing each step.

Salud! 🥂🍫📚

Chief Reframer & Rice Krispy Connosseur