How changing your identity can change your life

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
— Albert Einstein

Have you ever tried reaching a goal and felt stuck over and over and over again? I have and I couldn’t realize why. I kept making all these changes that I thought would bring me closer to my goal but the result? More disappointment!

Or these would result in short-term changes.

I felt like I was stuck in the infinite loop and my reality kept repeating itself again and again.

While there are thousands of techniques and exercises out there, nothing could work for me.

What society tells us is that in order to achieve a certain goal, you have to change the environment or the behavior.

Do you want to lose weight? You better start going to the gym (change the environment) and eating healthier (change the behavior).

Do you want to make more money? You better start working extra hours, find another job or move to a country with higher salaries.

Do you want to become a writer? Start joining some seminars, writing articles, open a blog or any other form of action.

You can see the pattern here:
You want to [insert goal here]? You should [insert change in the environment and behavior here].

While all of this can sound like a no-brainer, most of the people struggle to make these changes. Or they can make these changes, to begin with, but they will soon find themselves going to the old habits and behaviors.

Why?

Because all these changes are not sustainable. We’re trying to change something that it’s outside of us, while we remain the same person on the inside. Our identity and the kind of person we identify ourselves with, it’s the same.

This is why most of the people give up.

Do you think that it’s a coincidence that people who get rich by winning the lottery, they end up being poor few years later? It’s because the environment changed but their identity didn’t.

Environment = short-term change.
Behaviors = short-term change.
Identity = long-term change.

Identity is where all the magic happens. By tackling identity, which is the strongest and the highest level of change, you start changing who you believe you are. When you change who you believe you are and the kind of person you identify yourself with, your environment and behaviours have no choice but to change with you.

But how can one change their identity?

As Tony Robbins states, “Our culture teaches us that making significant changes takes a long time and is difficult to do. This is simply NOT true. Change happens in an instant. It is not a process – it is something you do in an instant by simply making a decision.”

So what decision are you going to make today?

How would your life change if you changed what came after “I am____”?

To your massive success,
Halona

---

*Photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash