Your entrenched habits are a 1-ton boulder.
Despite summoning the fiercest will, you can’t budge that boulder an inch.
We struggle with habits because habits are behavioral patterns so deeply engrained, that self-will (alone) won’t loosen their grip.
But you possess leverage that might surprise you.
And it’s a hidden, secret superpower that is only yours.
Nike knows what your superpower is, so does Adidas.
Nike’s brilliant new ad campaign (Play New) celebrates your superpower through the lens of play. The campaign doesn’t feature world-class athletes triumphantly crossing the finish line but instead, features average, ordinary people failing miserably: striking out, shooting airballs, crashing their surfboard, flailing wildly instead of diving elegantly into the water.
Nike strikes at something deep: That even when you suck (which you do) at whatever new initiative you try, they see what you see, the athlete you will someday become. Because, “you know what doesn’t suck?” continues Nike, “trying to do something you’ve never done before.”
In Zander Nethercutt’s article, “People Don’t Buy Products, They Buy Better Versions of Themselves,” he cites brands like Adidas, Nike, Pepsi, Apple, (and more) who evangelize customers by appealing to your super strength: your aspirational self. A Peloton ad greets you with the simple phrase, “Infinite you.” Not amazing us (Peloton). But infinite you. Each of these smart, sophisticated brands knows that you will invest in what you believe.
When Ira Glass talks to creative people about doing work you’re proud of, he says to be prepared for disappointment. Because the work you do will always fall short of your ideal. Because your taste and vision are larger than the reality of what your output is today.
But it’s your taste, your vision, your ideal of yourself at the top of your game, that keeps you in the game.
This is why the first step to forming a life-changing habit is not simply to “believe in yourself.” Believing in yourself implies you believe in who you are today.
But the first step toward a life-changing habit is to believe in the person you will become.
That is your superpower.
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become,” writes James Clear in Atomic Habits. “No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your identity. This is why habits are crucial. They cast repeated votes for being a type of person.”
You want to build better habits? Improve your circumstance? Change your life?
Decide, first, who you want to be.
