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WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

What often isn’t discussed in the quest for motivation is identity —who you are . . . and who you think you are at your core. They say the two most
powerful words in the English language are the shortest: “I am.” Whatever you put after those two words determines your destiny.
Let’s say you want to stop smoking. Maybe you’ve had a few warnings from your doctor, and you’re finally coming around to the idea that you should quit. If you identify as a smoker and regularly say, “I am a smoker,” it’s going to be difficult to quit until you dismantle that identity. When you say you are defined by a particular action, you are essentially priming yourself to identify with and justify a certain behavior.
This is so integral to behavior change that it can’t be overstated. A fascinating study out of Stanford University showed the effects of priming on participants. Researcher Christopher Bryan separated participants into two groups. The first group responded to a questionnaire that included phrases like “to vote” and questions like “How important is it to you to vote?” The second group’s questionnaire had slightly altered questions, like “How important is it to you to be a voter [emphasis added]?”² The participants were also asked whether they planned to vote in the upcoming elections. Later, researchers used public voting records to confirm whether the participants had voted or not. Bryan and his team found that the participants whose survey included personally identifying statements like “voter” were 13 percent more likely to vote than those who were simply asked about the likelihood that they would vote.³
When you consciously decide to identify with the habit or goal you want to create or achieve, or consciously un-identify with a habit you no longer want, you will experience enormous power. If you’ve been telling yourself all of your life that you are a slow learner, or that you can’t learn, you might start telling yourself “I am a fast and efficient learner” instead. The highest drive we have is to act consistently with how we perceive ourselves—it is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. Use it to your benefit.