The belief you hold about yourself is the most influential factor in shaping your long-term behavior. You cannot go to the gym once or twice, eat clean once in a while and expect to see results.
Without shifting your underlying focus and determination, it is hard to stick with long-term changes. That’s why you need the right motivation to keep at it and commit to fitness for once and all.
Motivation: What & Where To Find It?
You must have seen some people with hectic schedules and a busy life are ripped and in shape. It might seem completely achievable and elite to you but it’s not. The only difference is that these people have motivation unlike the majority.
Wondering where to find motivation? Well, the answer is literally you and with the right environment. External motivation is fleeting but if you learn to motivate yourself, there’s no stopping you.
One day you decide to turn things around and in a while you become that person who has their life together and is totally in shape. Easier said than done? Not with the right beliefs and motivation.
What’s The Role Of Beliefs In Your Identity?
Your self-identity emerges from habits and your habits embody who you are. Including the belief in yourself, every belief we hold is molded and conditioned by previous experiences.
Whenever you repeat a behaviour, the more you reinforce the identity. For example, every time you make your bed, you embody the identity of an organized person. When you write every day, you embody the identity of a creative person.
Similarly, deciding to hit the gym every single day for a week consistently can become a life-long habit. The initial days of anything new are intimidating but if you believe in pursuing it, you can overcome all hindrances in no time.
Even though habits are not the only actions that influence your identity, their frequency tends to make them the most significant as each experience in life alters your perception of yourself.
Good Habits Can Change Your Life
In general, you don’t realize the worth of habits because you’re usually too busy thinking on autopilot. The more deeply ingrained your bad habits are, the more difficult it is to make any significant progress.
Therefore, even though you know that what you’re doing is detrimental to your health, you do it anyway because you are too used to it.
For example, a smoker repeatedly tries to quit but in vain. That’s why a smoker is more likely to engage in other bad habits like excessive
drinking. A step towards changing these bad habits, like joining a rehabilitation centre, would contribute towards a better lifestyle.
The chances of someone who works out for at least 30 minutes a day, whether they are running or hitting the gym weights, and does not smoke, are significantly lower at adapting bad habits.
It is because they take the time out to nurture their bodies, so they avoid habits that might undo their good habits.
Keystone habits hold the key to true long-lasting change by helping develop other good habits and eliminating bad ones at the same time.
One such keystone habit is the exercise routine. A simple 30 mins of exercise every day holds the power to transform your life. For total body transformation, the fitness of body and mind are equally important.
How Does Change Occur?
Change doesn’t happen overnight but takes a considerate amount of time. It’s not always about giant leaps but little steps along the way.
They focus on actions and not on wanting an outcome. With the virtue of daily action, the frequency can create an identity shift.
If you exercise every day, you will identify yourself as a healthy person. But if you write once, dance once, it is unlikely you will think you are a writer or a dancer, right? No.
While it may seem impossible, modifying your beliefs is relatively simple. Let’s see how.
The Three Layers Of Change
Habits reflect our current identity, and creating a new identity is the key to creating lasting habits. The actions you take today reflect who you believe you are, whether conscious or subconscious.
You need to build identity-based habits in order to change your behaviour for the better. Change occurs in three layers, and you can think of the layers as being like the layers of an onion.
Outcome
The outcome is the very first step in changing your results. The changes are result-oriented, and there may be a goal such as losing weight or winning a championship. Your outcome is determined by what you will accomplish.
Process
The second layer is changing your process. These are lifestyle-oriented changes, and they are concerned with changing habits and systems. Whether starting a gym routine, cleaning the refrigerator, waking up early, what you do determines your outcome.
Identity
There is no superiority or inferiority among different identities. Each has its own pros and cons. However, change can become problematic when it is driven by wants rather than with goals in mind.
How To Take The First Step Towards Change?
The truth is they are not superior or inferior to each other. All three levels of change are useful in their own way. The problem is the direction of change.
People tend to start off with I want to lose 10 kg (outcome). But if their identity is someone who would not be active and would not give up their unhealthy eating habits.
Their identity will self sabotage the outcome they want to achieve. Instead of focusing on the outcome, such as losing 10 kg in 10 days, the focus should be on what you want to become.
For example, if you believe that you are healthy and positive, it would be a stronger change, and we can use 10kg as a benchmark. Building habits based on identity should be the priority rather than building habits based on outcomes.
A Three-Step Guide To Achieving Change
Change is variable and takes different approaches for achieving in different situations. However, the following three steps are universal.
Decide Who You Want To Be (Identity)
The first step is to understand your goals, what you want, who you want to become. For example, your goal is to lose weight or gain muscles. It is important that you set yourself a goal and strive to move more, and be active every day.
Opt for healthy recipes and health supplements that will benefit your overall health. Choose healthier food options over processed ones to consciously make an effort towards your fitness goals.
Prove It To Yourself With Small Wins (Process)
Small wins can boost your confidence. While trying to adapt to a new habit and create a new identity, even a little success can develop a sense of pride and enthusiasm.
For example, you can get a pedometer, and with every step you take, there’ll be a new success every day. Or join a gym, where a trainer will guide you better towards muscle gain & transformation, whether it’s through strength or volume.
Measure And Track Yourself For Clarity (Outcome)
Maintaining a record of your small victories can provide the desired outcome. If, for example, you walk 500 steps a day one day, with time and continuous process, you’ll be walking ten thousand steps a day.
The same applies to muscle hypertrophy, gaining muscles requires time and persistent efforts. The process reinforces identity, identity sustains the process. Outcome grows your motivation until you don’t need it anymore.
“You do not rise to the level of your goal. You fall to the level of your system.”
– James Clear
Conclusion
We hope this article sheds some light on why people do what they do and become what they are and how habits influence your identity. It is well-known that habits contribute to developing an individual’s unique qualities, and exercising is a good keystone habit.
The details in forming habits and then building upon them have a lot more to do with what should be done in detail.
Thus, on their first session, all of our clients are given one-on-one personal training and thorough consultation to determine how we can help them change.
Change is not instant; it is a gradual evolution, bit by bit, day by day, habit by habit.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. Which is the important factor in shaping your long-term behavior?
A. The belief you hold about yourself is the most influential factor in shaping your long-term behavior. Without shifting your underlying focus and determination, it is hard to stick with long-term changes. That’s why you need the right motivation to keep at it and commit to fitness for once and all.
Q. How to stay motivated everytime?
A. Wondering where to find motivation? Well, the answer is literally you and with the right environment. External motivation is fleeting but if you learn to motivate yourself, there’s no stopping you..
Q. How are good habits beneficial for you?
A. You don’t realize the worth of habits because you’re usually too busy thinking on autopilot. The chances of someone who works out for at least 30 minutes a day, whether they are running or hitting the gym weights, and does not smoke, are significantly lower at adapting bad habits.
