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Identity-based habits

how to make it stick after the goal

An identity-based habit is one performed because of who you consider yourself to be rather than what you are trying to achieve. Outcome goals end when reached; identity persists. "I am someone who trains" survives the week that a target weight does not.

What to do about it

State the identity first, then let the behaviour be its evidence.

How people say it

Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.

  • become the kind of person who
  • goals vs identity
  • I hit the goal then stopped
  • how to make it stick after the goal
  • I am not a runner but I want to be
  • why do I fall off after I succeed
  • acting like the person I want to be

Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.

About the author

Brian Spiker has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — a real service business with real customers, real Google reviews, and 13 years of work most self-help authors will never do.

He writes the way operators talk: brutal, funny, and built from work that actually has to get done. Verify everything at spikercarpetandtilecare.com.