Shaping My Identity In Atomic Habits By James Clear

My question that I researched over the course of the school year was “Do habits shape your identity?” This school year I have read the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. This book introduced me to the idea of identity based habits for the first time. When I first saw this idea in the book I was confused on what an identity based habit was. As I read I learned that an identity based habit is the idea of achieving goals by not only focusing on what you want to achieve but focusing on who you wish to become. For example James Clear states that the goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader. The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner. He argues that if a thought or action is tied to your identity, the more

For example, when you make your bed each day, you embody the identity of an organized person. When you write each day, you embody the identity of a creative person. Overall the goal is to first ask yourself “who do i want to be?” Applying this to myself, I want to be a person who can speak Mandarin, the language I'm studying at school. Now I had to ask myself “Who is the type of person that could learn a language?” I believe someone who could learn a language is persistent and hard working. And now your focus is not only to learn a language, which is outcome based, but to become persistent and hard working which is identity based. James Clear overall argues that you should have habits that reinforce your new desired identity and not just focusing on getting a particular outcome. The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve but focusing on who you want to

I was wondering if the idea that habits actually change who you are was a bit extreme, but as time went on and I read more I realized that habits really are the key to becoming who you want to be. I always viewed that the way to achieve your goals is by committing to things you say you are going to do. For example, I have always wanted to wake up earlier in the morning. I always thought that if I was just determined enough that I would be able to wake up early. I quickly realized that this is not the case. I learned that so many more components went into waking up early that I was not meeting. For example the time you go to bed, the amount of time you go on your phone, etc. I always thought that the key to achieving your goals was your determination, but now I think the main key lies down to your