Most people focus on the “having” part of what they want to change in their lives, but the more fundamental and important aspect of change is the “being” part. “Being” implies having, even if it hasn’t exactly happened yet. Many wrongly assume that “having” means “you are”, but that’s not exactly true. Let me explain what I mean.

Firstly, let me give credit where credit is due. The term identity-based habits is a term that I first heard in James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits. I was gifted the book for Christmas and I highly recommend it to anyone who is actively trying to change their lives by changing their habits. Clear’s book breaks down habits to their basics so that the reader can understand how habits work and can practically apply that knowledge to their lives. A link to Clear’s website will be provided before.

Back to the issue of being and having. What I mean by this might be best illustrated by a few examples. Being rich implies having a lot of money. Many people want to be rich, but all they focus on is having a lot of money. The problem lies in that they still have the habits and identity of a poor person.

They spend money without care, buy things they don’t need or that they can’t sustain, they fail to save or invest their income because they have poor people habits. However, these people still want to be rich, and they just focus on making a lot of money, not realizing that being rich and staying rich largely depends upon your habits.

Rich people invest. Most rich people aren’t frivolously spending their money on pointless things, and if they sometimes do, well, they didn’t get there by doing so. Rich people have a habit of making intelligent decisions with their money, and they have a habit of providing value that makes them more. They are doing what rich people do, and as a result of those identity-based habits, they have a lot of money.

The BEING comes before the HAVING, and not the other way around. If you gave a person with a poor-person identity one million dollars, then I guarantee they will be poor again soon. If you gave a person with a rich identity one million dollars, they would stay rich because they already have the mental framework set up for wealth.

Let’s take a look at another example. Being healthy implies having a fit body. Many people want a fit body, but they only focus on the look, and not the habits that get you there. They want to have the body, but they don’t want to live the way a healthy person would live to get that body.

Habits reinforce identity. You are who you are now because of your habits and what you have is the result of your repeated actions. You aren’t a fit person because you don’t have the habits of a fit person. You don’t see a healthy person as your identity, you think of yourself as an unhealthy person who wants what a fit person has. You have to want to be what a fit person is to have the body of a Greek statue, but you have been doing the things an unhealthy person does for so long that unhealthy is part of your identity.

Change the identity first. That is the only way to change the outcome. James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, breaks down changing your identity into two simple steps:

1. Decide the type of person you want to be.
2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.

It’s nearly impossible to create a substantial change in your identity when all of your actions and thoughts have been claiming the opposite. Consciously or unconsciously you believe you are an unhealthy person and you have been proving it to yourself with your habits, deeply solidifying this unhealthy identity.

So, you have to start proving to yourself that you are a healthy person with small wins. Clear makes this process an analogy to casting votes. Each action, each habit, is a vote in favor of either the healthy identity or the unhealthy identity, and you only need a majority vote.

Deciding who you want to be comes back to identifying what your values are, establishing a moral code, and knowing what you believe in and what your purpose is. This is a fundamental aspect of the Eclectic Method, for these things give you direction.

If you don’t know who you want to be and instead fantasize about having ‘x’, ‘y’, and ‘z’, then you will fail to reinforce the identity required to have those things you want. You have to change who you are first, which starts with establishing an identity and then really becoming that person through small wins.

It is useful to filter your life and filter your habits through the lens of that chosen identity. Be a scientist and approach it through a logical and questioning method. If it’s that fit person identity that you have set your heart upon, then when you do things, start by asking yourself, “would a fit person do this?”

Filter your thoughts like a scientist as well and ask, “would a fit person think like that?” If not, don’t do it and experiment with what you think you should do based on your new identity. Soon you will be making so many small wins, that with persistence and putting in the effort, that new identity can win the election.

If you persevere for long enough, those healthy habits will become automatic, and when you see results of your efforts, it will be easy to keep going and to believe in that identity. That feedback loop is a beneficial one that you will take advantage of if you are wise.

Part of the reason this idea resonated with me so much is because here on The Eclectic Method, we believe in fostering mindsets, and that’s the same principle that is applied to fostering the identity you desire by reinforcing it with habits that correlate to that identity.

One of the mindsets that we foster on the Eclectic Method is the mindset of abundance, but identity-based habits have given that idea a new meaning. Part of that is the idea of always having the abundance of opportunities to be who you want to be. That means, if you desire to be a fit person, there are always opportunities around you to be that person.

A lot of people think that the abundance mindset is a whole lot of just repeat to yourself that you already have what you want, but here on The Eclectic Method, we believe in the abundance of opportunity to create the reality you wish to have.

If you are stuck in your unhealthy identity and that means you are still stuck in unhealthy habits, you need to focus on what being a fit person means to you and then notice, and more importantly, act upon opportunities to reinforce that healthy identity. There are always opportunities to be exploited for personal growth, if personal growth is the lens of your perspective.

That means noticing that you are more likely to go to the gym if you get into your gym clothes after getting undressed from work, and then providing opportunities to make that a habit, thus reinforcing the fit person identity. That might mean noticing you have a little bit of time in the morning before work and instead of using that time to scroll on your phone, you use it as an opportunity to get out your gym clothes and neatly set them up somewhere convenient to grab after work.

Another opportunity you may notice to have a fit identity is to wash your gyms clothes as regularly as you do your work clothes so you can never make the excuse to not go to the gym. Have your tennis shoes by the door, so that when you walk in your house, you think about going to workout by seeing your tennis shoes right as you step through the door.

That means when plans fall through, instead of using that time to feel sorry for yourself, you use that spare time to go to the gym, or set up your gym bag for tomorrow, or to do your laundry or to go grocery shopping for healthy foods.

That’s taking advantage of the abundance of opportunities to have a fit person identity. Which compounds into you going to the gym more, and soon your actions result in the fit body you wanted. Not because you focused on having a six-pack, but because you focused on living your life like you think a fit person would, and then taking advantage of the opportunities presented to make that identity a reality.

Link to James Clear’s website: https://jamesclear.com/

Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Publishing Group.

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