How to Change Your Beliefs and Stick to Your Goals for Good

The beliefs you have about yourself can drive your long-term behavior.

You could trick yourself into going to the gym or eating healthy once or twice, but if you don't shift your underlying identity, then it's hard to stick with long-term changes.

• A change in your outcomes
• A change in your processes
• A change in your identity.

Most people start by focusing on outcome-based goals like “I want to lose 20 pounds”. But these are surface-level changes.

... and building better habits is your identity.

Each action you perform is driven by the belief that it is possible. So if you change your identity (the type of person that you believe that you are), then it’s easier to change your actions.

Your habits are not the only actions that influence your identity, but by virtue of their frequency, they are usually the most important ones.

So the most practical way to change who you are is to change what you do.

Your habits are how you embody your identity. The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior.

When you write each day, you embody the identity of a creative person. When you train each day, you embody the identity of an athletic person.