Last week, I wrote about commitment. Dovetailing on that, is the idea that Will Durant brought us when he famously summarized Aristotle in a 1926 essay:
                      “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

What are you doing repeatedly?
That could be an action. It could also be a statement you make to yourself, perhaps in judgment of yourself. People often say things like, “I’m just no good at (singing, math, gardening, relationships, etc.)” Repeated, it becomes reality.

You change your identity before you get results. That’s what I’ve called “identity before circumstance.” When you dedicate deliberate attention and action to something, repeatedly, you will change your identity into the person who does that thing: I am a singer, a mathematician, a gardener, etc.

Dedicate yourself to the thing you want, and you become the person who lives the life doing the thing. You’re allowed to grow and change your identity along the way. It’s seldom a dramatic shift, though it does happen. Usually, it’s through a process called identity continuity. You shift one piece about you. Then another.

What did you LOVE to do 20 years ago that you’re no longer doing? You didn’t just stop doing that thing. You picked up something else that caught your interest. Then you spent less time on that one thing and more time on the other.

The key here is that you NOW do so INTENTIONALLY. 
Choose what interest you’re pursuing and what your identity is becoming. Then commit. Dedicate time, effort, resources. Dedicate yourself to repeated practice, whether that’s mental rehearsal, changing your thinking, or physically doing something, practice intentionally. Dedicate yourself to your new identity. 

   Clarity, Action, and Dedication work together to transforms effort into identity.

Keep making your magic!
See you here next week!

= Wayne = 

Check out the NEW Exponential Success Summit. 
It’s a small group designed for you! Boston in early October. 
(We’re headed to Helsinki in May.)
Reach out if you want to join us.