Identity and Goals

I read in Atomic Habits (James Clear) that a person who identifies as a non-smoker is more likely to abstain from cigarettes than the person who identifies as someone “trying to quit.” This is why goal acronyms like SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) and BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goals) only go so far. Identity is the special sauce of goal setting. When goals align with identities, results follow.

Long-term goal success rarely runs counter to our identity—who we are, our particular convictions, experiences, and abilities. Identity-based goals are predictions, not merely aspirations. While you can diet and lose weight, you are opening yourself to the yo-yo experience if you refuse to adopt the identity of a healthy eater. Likewise, for a short time you may rise at five in the morning and prove productive, but continued success means embracing the identity of “early morning achiever.” 

Too often we desire short-term fixes not long-term lifestyles. Being a procrastinator or snack-er or snooze-button hitter is who we are. Changing identity is scary. What helps promotes identity change? Here are three answers:

·      BE DESPERATE to end the pain associated with your current identity. For many years I was a devoted Diet Soda Drinker, in spite of much negative press about these beverages. Only when I realized artificial sweeteners gave me headaches, did I quit cold turkey. For ten years now, I have been a Water Drinker, and I have not looked back. Sometimes you have to say enough is enough.

·      TRANSFORM your mindset by changing how your perspective and your accompanying self-talk. If I dismiss driving as dangerous, boring, or a time waste, I am an Unhappy Driver. If I see driving as a service to others, a chance to see new places and meet new people, driving becomes a passport to joy, and I morph into a Happy Driver. 

·      ANCHOR yourself to Christ: In Christ, we are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). Our identity has changed. Even though change remains hard and slightly terrifying, we now have four powerful tools to help change happen—the indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us, a community of faith to support us, Scriptural truths to cling to, and new life patterns to replace old destructive ones.

Changing your identity is an inside-out process. When it comes to goal achievement, identity change works best when paired with the outside-in process of developing appropriate systems. That is a subject for a later post.