I started a blogging challenge 35 days ago here on this blog to help me get in the habit of writing every day and to start getting content on this blog. It was important to me to rediscover my love of writing, so I made a commitment to myself to make at least one post every day for 100 days. It has been so good for me to do this challenge. It’s helped me to form a daily writing habit, it’s helped me start writing on another blog I have, and it’s helped me change the way I view myself.
I know that sounds weird, but when you get stuck in a cycle of self doubt, or you struggle to do something you once loved (like write), it’s easy to get bogged down, and it’s not so easy to get unstuck. Well, at least not without a strategy that works for you and the way that you think.
Enter Identity Based Habits. I’ve learned a little about this strategy over the years, but I didn’t consistently use it long enough to see much of a difference in anything. Part of it may have also been that normally, I try to change too many things at once. (We’ve all been there, right?)
“What are identity based habits?”, you might be asking. Well, they’re habits formed by using a strategy where you base the new habits (or getting rid of bad ones) on an identity that you want to be part of your own identity. Maybe you want to be a person who makes healthy choices or a person who is good with money. Well, I wanted to become a person who writes daily. (One of the many things I wanted to become.)
After making the commitment to blog daily, I had to figure out how to keep that commitment. I had to be a person who honors thier commitments to themselves and a person that can form new habits. (Remember before when I said that I identified heavily as a person who struggled with forming new habits.)
To use this strategy, follow a few easy steps.
Identify the habit you want to start or stop.
I’ll use my situation as the example. My habit was that I wanted to write on this blog daily for 100 days to form a habit of writing daily.
Figure out what kind of a person would have that habit.
For me this was a little tricky, because there were a few of identities working together.
- Someone who loves to write and writes daily.
- Somone who sticks by their commitments to themselves.
- Someone who can form new habits
When making decisions ask yourself what the person of your chosen identity or identities would do.
For me, that meant on the days where I was struggling to figure out what to write or I didn’t feel good (or whatevher other excuse I’d start to let myself off the hook with), I’d force myself to answer some questions.
- What would a person who writes daily do?
- What would a person who keeps their commitments to themselves do?
- What would a person who is good at forming habits do?
The last thing you have to do is answer honestly and then follow through.
I had to come to terms with the fact that sometimes I would write when I was uninspired. Sometimes I’d have to write when I didn’t feel very good. There would be times where I had to hit “publish” on something that felt undone or not good enough. Honestly, all of these things have been good for me.
Using the identity based habit strategy has been good for battling perfectionism, procrastination, and writer’s blog. It’s helped me to change some deep rooted views I held of myself, stories I told to me about me for far too long. It’s been good to see myself in a different light.
If you struggle with creating or breaking habits, identity based habits might help you learn to see yourself in a different way. It might be the breakthrough you’ve been looking for. It’s worth a try.