A few years ago, I signed up for a running challenge. Show up every morning, run a few kilometers—simple enough. The first week, I was unstoppable. The second week, I started making deals with myself—Maybe skipping one day isn’t a big deal. By the third week, I was watching motivational videos about running instead of actually running.
Laziness wasn’t the issue. Motivation wasn’t either. Something deeper kept pulling me back to square one.
Turns out, the real problem wasn’t consistency. It was identity.
The Silent Sabotage
People act in alignment with who they believe they are. If deep down, the mind has decided that consistency isn’t part of the package, no amount of willpower will fix it. The subconscious clings to old identities like a bad habit.
I saw myself as someone who tried but never quite followed through. My actions reflected that belief. I’d get excited, commit for a while, then find a way—any way—to prove myself right.
It wasn’t a habit problem. It was an identity problem.
The Shift That Changed Everything
The breakthrough didn’t come from another planner or a new strategy. It came from a different question. Instead of asking, How do I stay consistent? I started asking, What would someone who is already consistent do?
Would they negotiate with themselves about showing up? Rely on motivation? Overthink every step? No. They would just do the thing—no debate, no hesitation.
So, I stopped acting like someone trying to be consistent and started acting like someone who already was. And suddenly, the struggle disappeared.
The Shift That Actually Works
Change isn’t a single grand decision. It’s a thousand small ones—choosing the future version of yourself over the past one, over and over again. Stop making choices based on old failures and start making them based on who you want to be.
That’s when everything clicks. Not because you forced yourself to be consistent, but because you became someone who simply is.
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