Changing your identity is the unlock you need

Have you ever noticed how people who run call themselves runners, but people who are just getting started, they say they're trying to get into running. And as a Cambridge student and a marathoner, I've applied these psychological principles I've applied since the very first day I started running and I genuinely believe it's one of the biggest reasons I've stayed consistent. There's a fascinating psychological concept called identity priming. And research has shown that the identities we give ourselves shape the behaviors we repeat. So when you describe yourself with an identity rather than an action, your brain begins to act in ways that are consistent with that identity. So before I'd ever completed a marathon, I made the conscious decision to stop saying I'm trying to get into running. And instead, I called myself a runner from day one because I wanted my actions to become consistent with the person I was choosing to become. And that one shift changed everything for me. And every early morning training session, every setback, stopped feeling like something I had to force myself through because going for a run wasn't something that I had to convince myself to do, it became something runners do, which I believed I was. And I'd have completed half marathons and the London marathon and looking back, I don't think consistency came first for me, identity did. So instead of asking yourself, what do I need to do if you're struggling? I want you to ask yourself, who do I want to become through this activity that I'm looking forward to doing? Because the person you believe you are shapes the actions you take long before the achievements stack up.