2021: New year, new identity?

I read Atomic Habits in December last year and found the concept Identity-based Habits intriguing. These habits are actions and behaviours that reflect my current identity. The author posits that by changing your identity – what you believe about yourself, your habits will follow as a result.

Coming into 2020, I was overweight and I wanted to shed some kilos – an example of outcome-based desire. Covid-induced working from home allowed me more time to work out. I engaged a few friends to do high-intensity interval training workouts together over Zoom, an example of process-driven change. I did achieve some results but my motivation was wearing thin.

One day, I met my personal trainer who — after prescribing some challenging squat-jump combination — remarked ‘You’re quite strong and athletic!’. That comment refreshed the way I saw myself. Soon afterwards, physical exercise — whether it’s an interval runs, a set of lunge/squat, or a plyometric jump — is simply another chance to reinforce my new identity, that I am strong and athletic.

I ended up working out 300/360 days for at least 30 minutes in 2020, a 10X increase from 2019.

So creating more identity-based habits is what I want to bring forward to 2021: decide the type of person I want to be, and set out to prove it first to myself that I can do it. More on it in the next post.