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Volume 11, Issue 10: Identify With You Habits

One of the practices recommended for habit formation is identifying with your habits. Your habits are not what you do, they are who you are. Writing isn't something that I do, it is who I am. I am a writer, therefore I write. Exercising is not something that you do, it is who you are. You are an athlete, therefore you exercise.

We do what we do because we want to be proficient at those things and reap the benefits that accrue from doing them. You may not be interested in becoming a performing artist, but if you like to sing or to play the piano and do it consistently, you are a musician. This is because we are what we do repeatedly.

When you identify yourself as an athlete, overtime, working out wouldn't be something you make yourself do but one that comes naturally to you. What would be weird would be you not working out for a notable stretch of time. You know this because people who work out consistently are most likely not trying to lose weight. They may be interested in maintaining their ideal weight but that is not such a big factor in their continuing to work out year after year.

These people work out because working out is not just what they do, it's who they are. They are athletes. They may not have set out to be athletes. They probably started working out to get in shape. But as they exercised consistently over and over again, working out got ingrained in their makeup. Now that they are fit and healthy, and disciplined in their eating habits, they don't necessarily have a reason to continue working out, but they can't stop working out because it is who they are.

When I struggled with finding time to write, or ideas to write about, what got me back on track was the realization that this is not just something that I do. It's who I am. I may not be a published writer or known by anybody but none of that changes who I am, a writer. And what do writers do? They write. When I realized this, all the obstacles I imagined I had lost their grip on me.

What habits are you struggling to form or strengthen? Try identifying yourself with those habits and see what difference that would make. If you would like to make friends but haven't gathered enough courage to socialize, start thinking of yourself as a social person, and then practice doing what social people do. Identify with the habits you want to form or strengthen and soon you will be on your way to being the person who consistently does the things you want to do.

 

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi