Lani Rose R Dizon
Reset, restart, and rebuild. The New Year marks an excellent opportunity to start a clean slate. Many women are looking forward to welcoming 2025 with renewed intentions to be better versions of their ‘2024 selves’.
However, studies have shown that up to 70% of people who make New Year’s resolutions abandon those good intentions within months.
Expert tips abound online, which remind people to set realistic and specific goals. But in a previous interview with Conferences for Women Podcast ‘Women Amplified’, James Clear, author of the #1 New York Times best-seller Atomic Habits, reiterated the importance of breaking bad habits and building good habits by focusing on building one’s identity rather than the outcomes.
During the interview, Clear was asked on why many New Year’s resolutions fail. He said: “I think a part of it is that motivation and excitement and expectation tends to ramp up when you’re at the start of a new season. That could be Mondays, the start of a new week, or it could be July 1st, the start of a new month. It could be January 1st, the start of a new year, which in many cases is also the start of a new month and a new week and so on. There’s something motivating about a fresh start. I think people get wrapped up.
Well, this is why everybody sets New Year’s resolutions but then doesn’t stick with them. Here’s the key that I think. Rather than focusing on the outcomes that you want this next year, focus on the identity that you’d like to build. The goal is not to read 40 books this year, which might be a New Year’s resolution you set. The goal is to become a reader, to develop that identity. The goal is not to run a marathon this year, which might be the New Year’s resolution. The goal is to become a runner. The goal is not to lose 40 pounds. The goal is to become the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts,” Clear added.
He went on to emphasize that the “more that you organize your habits around an identity rather than an outcome, the more that you see the value in just sticking with it, even if it’s a small thing, right? Reading one page does not make you a genius, but it does reinforce the identity of “I’m a reader,” or doing one pushup does not transform your body, but it does reinforce the identity of “I’m the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts.”
“Eventually, if you cast enough votes for being that kind of person, you start to believe it. That’s why I have that phrase where I say every action you take is like a vote for the type of person you want to become, because ultimately what you’re looking to do is build habits that cast votes for your desired identity,” Clear added.
