Transcription
Read, journal, eat healthy, go for the run, meditate, go outside, learn a skill, do deep work, exercise. There are so many things you could be doing right now to stop wasting your life. So many things that are actually aligned with the person that you want to become, but instead you choose to scroll, to procrastinate, to entertain yourself. And as a result, you're feeding the old identity instead of feeding the new identity.
It's all about making that switch so you can become the person who enjoys the hard work. That person who just enjoys everything that is good for them and actually doesn't enjoy the things that are holding them back. And that is the whole goal and that's how you achieve it. And all this takes to make the switch is a bit of recalibration and identity shifting. So this is the full identity shifting protocol that I'm about to give you. The strategies, the insights, and the systems that have worked for myself and many others inside our community as well. I'll talk more about that later. So get comfortable, put this video on full screen, and let's begin.
Part number one, understanding identity. You see, what actually is identity? I'll put it like this. Identity equals self-image plus repeated action. There's a quote that I really love and it goes like this. You don't act your way into belief. You believe your way into acting. You see, the old version of you, the old identity, always waited for validation and approval before taking action required. And the problem with that is you're never ever going to get the validation except from yourself. Because by the time you wait for that validation, that perfect moment, that signal that you're ready to go, that you're ready to stop procrastinating and get the work done and actually start focusing, then it is already too late. Because by that time, the passion would have already expired. You see, never push things off for later. That is a rule of thumb that everyone should follow. You see, later the coffee gets cold. Later people lose feelings, people lose interest, later you lose interest, you lose passion and later things just change.
So it's all about comparing motivation versus identity. You see there are two versions of you, right? One version relies on motivation and the other version relies on identity. Now motivation asks, do I feel like it? But on the other hand, identity says this is what I do. Now who do you think is going to win? The old identity who's chasing motivation, who chases those hits of dopamine for feeling good, like doing the work, waiting for just things to feel right before taking action and doing something. Or the second version, that version that is the new identity, that it has what you want, that is where you want to be, and that relies on identity because they know no matter if the motivation is low, no matter if things are hard, if they don't feel like doing the work, the identity is what is going to keep them in check. You see, motivation is only going to get you so far. So in order to stop wasting your life, you first need to make the switch from motivation to identity. And that is why willpower keeps failing you. You see the thing about willpower is willpower fights identity. But identity makes effort automatic. So if you just lock in the identity, if you just assume and close your eyes and visualize the person you want to become with all the things that they have, all the success that they have, all the characteristics they have and everything that they do, all the good habits, you know, their focus, their disciplined people, that person, that identity, envision them, imagine them, feel like that person and that is your new identity. That is the person that you're aiming to become.
Now the old identity is basically every way you were. You know, every way when you slipped up, when you just fell off, things just happened. You slipped up again and you went back and you procrastinated again and again and again. And it's the same cycle of inconsistency. That is your old version. And that is the person you've been up till now. But this is where everything changes. And that is where identity shifting comes in. You see, let's talk about identity loops. The loop goes like this. Thought leads to action, which leads to proof, which then leads to belief. And then the belief circles back around and produces those same thoughts that then start the cycle again. And that is why small actions reprogram the mind. Small wins, daily wins every single day. Every single time you win, your brain cannot tell the difference between a small win and a win and a large win. You see, they're both the same. A win is a win. It is a positive network of evidence, belief, conviction that you are in the right direction. Think about this. What creates a person? What creates action? What creates a way of life? It is all evidence. You know, when you give yourself evidence for something, you're going to do more of that same thing. If you see yourself as a person who procrastinates, you will start to procrastinate more and more. If you start seeing yourself as a person who is focused, sharp, and disciplined, then you're going to lean more towards that direction. And you're going to start seeing yourself in that way, which leads you to take more actions that are aligned with that path, which then come back and improve your self-image, which then lead to more thought, more action in that direction. And it's just this upward spiral that is going to take you places.
So, the focus of part number one is focusing on small actions. Every time when you wake up, give yourself small wins. Make your bed. Go and read a book. Stay off your phone. Do things that the future you would do. Meditate, stretch, do some yoga, talk to friends, you know, talk to socialize as soon as you can. Get outside, get some sunlight, and just stack up small wins. And the more you can stack up small wins and remove losses. So losses pretty much are the things that make you feel bad. You know, like if you indulge in a bad habit, you're you're not going to feel good about that. You know, you're going to feel a bit shameful. You're going to feel a bit like, I said I was going to do this. I said I was going to do this, but I didn't. And I I wanted to stop but I didn't. And that's like losses being stacked up. And the more you stack up losses which are bad habits, you know, you procrastinated, you scrolled, you did things you didn't want to do. The further away you're getting from your future identity, that is why we need to eliminate losses. Remove them from our lives and just start implementing and replacing these with the good habits, the good ways of life. Oh, I woke up and I got straight to work after doing my perfect morning routine and I did not procrastinate. I got perfect work done. I was super productive today. I didn't waste time. I didn't scroll. I stayed off my phone. I spent my day in a perfectly perfect fashion, what you could call it. And that pretty much signals to your brain, it tells your brain that, hey, this is the direction we're headed in. Hey, this is the life that we're going to live. And that just it just gives you this constant loop of feedback that changes your identity. But this isn't something that could happen in a few days or a few weeks. It takes months to happen. But over time, when you keep repeatedly exposing yourself to wins, you are completely changing your identity. Because think about this. How do you learn the best for an exam? You learn the best when you're repeatedly exposed to the same thing. When you just write the same thing down, the same equation. Let's say you need to memorize an equation. You just write it down over the course of 3 weeks. Like every day, you're writing down the same thing. You're solving the same problems, the same context. You're just building and stacking. And that's how the brain works.
Now let's move on to part number two, the old identity trap. You see let's talk about how the old identity was formed. If we know where the problem is then we know how to fix it. You see the old identity was formed by repetition not choice. You see every time you repeated a bad habit, a negative feedback loop, something like procrastinating, like scrolling, like wasting your time, every time you pick up your phone and get distracted during a work session. These are all signals, right? These are all identity signals and they're being stacked over time. And that goes with environmental conditioning. You see, your environment really shapes you. We're talking about the type of content you consume, the people you hang around, the type of things you read, the knowledge you consume, the things you learn about, and even the movies you watch, even the music you listen to. All of these things are shaping your mind because these are things, these are parts of your environment. Your environment shapes you. So, if you want to become somebody new, you need to surround yourself in a new environment. That doesn't mean leaving home or moving countries, but that just means doing things differently, acting in a different fashion.
So, here are some signs that you're still acting as the old you. You see, tell me if this sounds familiar. You're on a good streak. Things are going well. You're not procrastinating. You're not scrolling. And even some bad habits, you're staying away from most of them. You start reading. You start going for runs. You start, you know, mentally preparing yourself, doing things, studying efficiently, working efficiently, doing good work, being an honest person, and your life is actually looking good for a while, you know, for a couple of weeks, for a month, maybe even maybe even 2 months. But then somewhere along the line, something happens, something changes, and all of a sudden, you feel like you're back at square one. You return to the same old ways, the same bad habits, the procrastination. All of a sudden, you can't focus now. All of a sudden, things have changed. And you're addicted to your phone again. You can't stop picking it up. And things that were just going so well seem to now be falling apart. And that is a sign that your old identity is still there. Number one is inconsistent execution. Number two is starting, stopping and then restarting all over again. Number three is knowing what to do but not doing it.
Now what are the hidden costs of these things happening of the old identity kicking you trying to pull you back into the same old ways are these things. So first of all broken self-trust. Do you see self-trust equals self-confidence which then leads and shapes your thoughts which then shape your action? How can you take winning and successful action if you have no self-trust? It is impossible. So first you need to build that self-trust but by going back to old ways by doing things that are not in alignment with where you want to be. The problem with that is you're feeding the old frequency, right? You're breaking your self-trust. You're stagnating. You're quietly losing self-respect. And all these things they compound. So, we have the upward spiral, the positive spiral, and the negative spiral. And the whole goal is to just go up, is to use the compounding effect to your advantage by stacking and gathering habits and ways of life and things that vote for the person you could become, and then taking all of that information and feedback and finally embodying the person, that final form, that successful identity, the the new identity, and that is going to take you wherever you want to go.
Now, that takes me to part number three, the identity shifting protocol. So, I've broken this protocol down into three phases. Phase number one is awareness. This is all about breaking the character. So, this is going to be a reset in the form of something like a 7-day challenge similar to what we do inside Discipline OS. I'll just run you through that quickly. Basically, we have 7-day weekly challenges every single week where we focus on two habits or eliminating two habits. So, it's either stacking two good habits or not doing two bad habits. So, for example, my challenge, the one I did two weeks ago, was a habit challenge. Basically, I chose two habits. Number one is meditating for 1 hour every single day. And the other one is also doing 150 push-ups every day for one week. And the reason I chose those things is because I know it's outside my comfort zone. I know it's going to just take me closer and closer towards that future identity, that new person. So, basically, everybody chose different habits. Some people chose reading, some people chose waking up early, some people chose sleeping early. And it really is anything that you want it to be. Important thing is it aligns with your future identity and it is outside your comfort zone. So the rules here are the following. Number one, no autopilot behavior. Number three, no negative self-talk. Number four is combining affirmations plus journaling with meditating. Number five is catch identity-based thoughts. You see, when you get a thought that you want to go and do something that is not in alignment with where you want to be, then you need to take a step back, see things, observe things from a third perspective, and just gain this conscious awareness of, you know, why did I have that thought? Where did that thought actually come from? And is that thought actually serving me? And this is all about just observing urges without having to obey them, without having to be like, oh, because I had the thought, I have to do this. But the truth is, you have conscious choice. You can choose and filter your thoughts so that you only get thoughts or you only allow thoughts to pass through that are voting for you that are going to help you get to your goal.
So in this phase you want to replace your current actions such as dopamine layering. For example, let's say if you eat in front of a screen that means that you want to reverse this change. So you want to eat without a screen. That is step number one. Let's say you take your phone with you wherever you go. You take your phone when you go to the toilet, when you have to use the bathroom, when you have to do anything. You just take your phone. Now you have to put emphasis on walking without stimulation. Find out what you're doing that is kind of impeding your growth and just focus on eliminating that. And two other replacement actions are writing thoughts out, just having a clear mind. Whatever you have in your mind, you just have to put it out on a piece of paper because the paper can't judge you. You know, the paper you're writing on, it doesn't judge you. It doesn't overthink. It's just over there. It's just in front of you. And you can just express yourself like this and clear overthinking. Allow yourself to have clarity of mind. And also in phase number one, you want to very carefully select your inputs and your outputs. Find out what your inputs are. Everything from the content you consume, the movies you watch, what you eat, etc., etc. And focus on just shaping these so that you can build the life you desire.
And that takes me to phase number two, environment engineering. So your environment chooses you. Your environment shapes you. Your environment, you become what you think about most of the time. And what you think about most of the time is controlled by what are what are you exposed to most of the time. So rebuild your environment from scratch. And the way you do that is by identifying what is holding your identity back. What is keeping you rooted in the old identity as the old self. And these are things you need to have awareness for and think about them and think about how you can remove this out of your life. And then rebuild your environment. So surround yourself with ambitious people, with people who are already where you want to be, people who have that dream life, who have achieved the goals that you dream about because that is what is going to take you there. And rebuilding your environment is also about who you are. You know, how do you act? If you want to be a millionaire and that's your future identity and that's the goal you want to achieve, then worrying about paying the bills isn't really in alignment with that future self, right? The millionaire version of you isn't going to worry about certain financial things, certain bills, and they're also going to be pretty relaxed, pretty comfortable, and pretty safe knowing that there's always enough. If you want to be a professional athlete, that that version of you isn't going to skip training when they don't feel like it. They're going to show up. They're going to be consistent, and that is the type of person that they are. You know, if you're a type of person, you do the things that correspond with that identity. It's just as simple as that. You, a boxer is always going to box. A swimmer is always going to swim. A person who plays video games is always going to play video games. A person who procrastinates always procrastinates. You see how everything matches together?
If you want to really stop wasting your life, then you simply just need to lock down this one thing. Identity equals habits and habits equals your life. So, the fact that you feel like you're wasting your life means that your habits are not in check. And that's because your identity isn't in check. So all we're doing here is just shifting our mental frequency. Thinking in ways that our future version would think and not thinking in ways that our old version would think. And this phase is not really a tangible thing you can do in your life. It's more of a mental practice. It's more of just how your self-talk is. Self-talk is everything. It is the root of identity. If your self-talk is negative, if you're talking yourself down and you're like, "Oh, but I'm lazy. I don't feel like doing this. I never get things done. I'm so unlucky. Things I never just catch a break." and your negative self-talk just impedes your growth then you have to really remove that because how are you going to get to your goals if you're not even thinking like the person who's already there and that is where self-talk shifting comes in start to practice positive self-talk take out a journal and just write down good things about yourself things you like about yourself things you're grateful for in your life and that is just enhancing positive self-talk you can also do this mentally you can do this typing on a keyboard you can do this pretty much anywhere but a journal is what I find best because just writing down has this different mental effect that nothing else has.
Now, phase number three is installing the new identity. This includes everything from showing up tired to doing things when you don't feel like it to finishing small tasks, keeping promises, no matter how small. If you said you were going to show up somewhere at 11:31, show up at 11:31. That's a small promise. You might think it doesn't matter, but it does matter because when you're studying a week later and you can't seem to focus, it was simply because you broke your promise that previous week, even if it was by one minute, and that tells your brain that, okay, we can break promises. That's how we roll. So, promises are super important. Your word is your bond. And if you can't keep it, then you can't keep anything else. And other things to lock in this new identity are things like reading, skill practice, deep work, spending time away from your phone, doing things that align with your future self, working hard, being honest, starting to see yourself with this celebrity effect. Feeling confident, feeling like you're on top of the world. That just shifts your identity.
And that takes me to the compounding effect. You see, every action is a vote for your future self. And consistency is the only thing that rewrites self-image. Because without the self-image that is required to achieve your goals, it is going to be almost impossible to achieve your goals. You need to first rewrite your self-image. And that starts with changing and adapting your consistency to vote for your future identity, that new identity by building that stack of evidence, the confidence, the proof, the self-belief, the action, the habits, the routines, and everything that is going to get you to where you want to be.
Now, the fact that you're watching till here shows me that you're serious about leveling up, about actually making real change in the person that you are. And that's why I want to tell you about my school community, Discipline OS. So basically, we use the systems, the frameworks, and the accountability to build discipline in order to unlock success. Now, click the link in the description below and watch that quick introduction video over there. It explains everything. I hope you enjoyed this video. Take care, and you got this.