This week's insights come from
Atomic Habits
FROM THE BOOK
"New identities require new evidence. If you keep casting the same votes you've always cast, you're going to get the same results you've always had. If nothing changes, nothing is going to change.
It's a simple two-step process:
1. Decide the type of person you want to be.
2. Prove it to yourself with small wins."
KEY TAKEAWAY:
Hope has never been a successful strategy when it comes to change. Many of us would like to have a different job, be a different person, or lead in a different way, yet we don't actually take steps to make it happen. We secretly hope that it'll happen on it's own, but alas, this never works.
As simple as it sounds, change requires change. Doing the same things will never yield different results.
FROM THE BOOK
"Habits are not the only actions that influence your identity, but by virtue of their frequency they are usually the most important ones. Each experience in life modifies your self-image, but it's unlikely you would consider yourself a soccer player because you kicked a ball once or an artist because you scribbled a picture. As you repeat these actions, however, the evidence accumulates and your self-image begins to change... In this way, the process of building habits is actually the process of becoming yourself."
KEY TAKEAWAY:
To become what you want to be, you must frequently do what someone with that identity would do. If you want to be a writer, write every day. If you want to be fit, spend five day every week at the gym. It really is not more complicated than that.
The repetition of these actions will reinforce your self-image and build you into the person you hope to become.
ABOUT ATOMIC HABITS
Atomic Habits was written by author James Clear and published in 2018. It's a masterclass in how to form habits that can change your life and improve performance by 1% every day.