Be Deliberate with Your Identity

A while ago, I read an excellent article from Paul Graham called Keep Your Identity Small, and from a while ago, I wanted to expand on that.

Let's start by stating that Identity is a core component of your life. Your Mindset is what makes or breaks your life. How you decide to interpret things, as well as how you choose to act on them, composes the "ruleset" of your Mindset, your default programming, so to speak. It is the origin of your Personality.

Mindset and Identity are not the same thing, nor am I implying they should be, but your adopted mindsets are part of your Identity. In this context, a Mindset is a group of behaviours and rules you assume, and your Identity is the self-image you have about yourself with your adopted portfolio of Mindsets. This concept is compelling because it makes you realize you could drop the Victim Mindset and embrace the winner's Identity.

Picture a tree where you cut some branches and other dependent sub-branches also fall off. You can also adopt new, beneficial branches for you. Effective beliefs are more important than true beliefs.

Your mindset program runs all the time without you noticing, mostly. By being self-aware, you can interrupt, redefine, change, make exceptions, and think again to see if it's correct. Evaluate if your current actions comply with the Identity you want to adopt. Enquire yourself several times during the day. e.g., "Are you a lazy person? If you go to bed several times a day only to doom scroll social media repeatedly, you must stop it. That's not characteristic of a productive person."

The more specific you are with your adopted mindsets, the more effective they are because they will clear up any judgment calls you'll have. As long as you don't override yourself ever, you'll accumulate these small wins that will make or break the adoption of the Identity. So, you have to put in the effort to comply with your intention to adopt a mindset.

The higher the quality of the selection of mindsets you mean to adopt, the better your life will turn out here and after. Adopting specific mindsets helps create a positive identity for yourself. You must be very mindful of a selected Mindset because some contradict one another. Ensure your selection converges on the same growth line you want to pursue.

Identity grows weeds, so you'll have to prune off undesired branches of your new Personality from time to time.

Let your mind have its time adopting the new identities and mindsets; the "New Year, New Me" is only the seed of a journey you'll have to walk.