Shift Your Identity and Transform Your Life

‘Identity shifting’ has become increasingly popular, especially in the self-help niche.

So what does this term mean?

It means you’ll adopt new beliefs, behaviors, interests, or even personality traits that may differ from your current identity – while staying true to your authentic self.

The goal is to become a brand new you. A you that feels like you.

The focus is no longer on ‘fixing yourself’… because if all you see are things to fix, the universe in all its wisdom will keep giving you more things to fix.

This may sound woo-woo… but…

No matter what you do, no matter how many self-help books you read or how many motivational videos you watch – sooner or later, you always find yourself back at square one.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you may do so successfully for a month… and suddenly, in one week, you let your diet and training slide and regain whatever weight you lost.

Or maybe you’re trying to save up and build a nest egg… and once again, something happens to make you spend all your savings. Maybe the car breaks down, or some new bill arrives… and you return to the starting line.

This process may have been repeated for years or even decades, and you have no idea why!

We are all born with a clean slate. However, as we age, parents, other adults, and society instill beliefs in us that are nothing more than opinions and ideas.

If you were given lots of food as a kid and you gained weight, your parents may have said that you have ‘fat genes’… and you grow up believing this.

You look around and most of your family members are overweight because nary a thought is given to what they put in their mouths.

Everything around you is reinforcing your beliefs… which were not even yours to begin with. Now, you identify as a person who becomes fat easily.

But is this even true?

As you become an overweight adult years later because of the mental conditioning you had when you were young, you may try to do better and lose the excess pounds.

Here’s the worst part – your best efforts will yield results. That’s an excellent thing! You have put in the work, and you see the results.

But guess what?

Your identity rears its ugly head to put things back to ‘normal’.

You can’t have the identity of someone with ‘fat genes’ and lose weight, can you?

No way!

So you begin binge eating and skip a few workouts… You know you shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing, but here you are doing it.

And you can’t stop yourself – because you are fighting your identity, and it’ll almost always win.

You gain back the weight you’ve lost, and you feel disappointed and miserable, and you tell yourself, “I guess I do have fat genes.”

This self-fulfilling prophecy is nothing more than false beliefs and trauma that are rooted inside you, which are causing chaos in your life. The key to solving this problem is not so much about changing your habits but shifting your identity.

The weight loss example above applies to most other scenarios, such as your money habits (you’re always broke) … relationship habits (you keep picking the wrong partners) … or even other habits such as alcohol, smoking, etc.

Now let’s see how you can elevate yourself above these issues!

The first step will be to practice deep breathing techniques. Inhale deeply with your nose so that your belly (diaphragm) rises… then exhale smoothly. Practice this style of breathing throughout the day whenever you can.

With deep breathing, your body (and cells) will gradually release the trauma that’s trapped inside you. This may sound strange but try it.

Breath is life… and deep breathing is highly beneficial to your body. It’ll prevent anxiety attacks, depression, and numerous other negative thinking issues.

The next step is to look back on your past and see how you were hurt, mocked, laughed at, and so on.

You’ll remember times when you felt embarrassed, stupid, etc. These painful memories are traumatic, and you’ll be amazed to find that they’re directly or indirectly connected to the problems that you may be having in life now.

For example, if you grew up in a family where money was an issue and your parents were always fighting over it… when you’re older, money will probably be an issue for you too.

It’s in your identity that being broke and constantly worrying about money is normal. This is your default setting.

Once you’ve analyzed yourself, you may wish to write down these memories and examine them.

Now it’s important to understand that all your beliefs until now are NOT yours. You received them from other people. Whatever you think you know reflects their views… and your experiences represent their ideas.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

The cruel irony is that the universe or law of attraction – call it whatever you want – will give you more of what you believe.

So if you thought that it was normal to have money problems, you’ll always find yourself in debt, or you may lose your job… or never seem to be able to pay off all your bills without more bills finding you.

Your identity comprises beliefs, the universe gives you exactly what you believe in. It must be, otherwise, you’d go insane.

Since you need to make sense of your reality – what you think/believe must come to pass.

But now you know better.

Understand that all your beliefs and even your identity were unconsciously created when you were young.

During your formative years, you were like a piece of clay… and were shaped by the beliefs that were foisted on you by people with their issues. Now you’re hard, baked in the oven of life, and it seems like you can’t change things.

But of course, you can… anytime you want to.

It’s time to break this clay pot and build a new one. The days of fixing and reshaping are over. We’re creating a new identity from scratch now.

First things first, ask yourself what it is you truly want. You must have a clear picture.

From here, you need to write it down in the present tense.

For example, if your name is Sarah, this is what you’d write…

“Who is Sarah?

She’s a happy, go-getter who eats clean and is in shape. She’s great at yoga and takes care of her health.

Sarah works for herself and has a 5-figure monthly income from her writing business which she does at home.

She is focused and meditates daily. Sarah loves traveling and takes a trip to a new country every 4 months…”

What you’re doing here is describing the new you. This is NOT in the future. It’s in the present but on a parallel track to your current life.

If you’re always projecting forward, what you want will always be out of reach.

By looking at your new identity and saying who you are, you’re not creating any internal resistance where you feel like you’re lying to yourself.

What you’ve written is who you believe yourself to be now, if only your instilled beliefs were positive when you were young.

You’re not there yet, but you’re easing yourself into it.

Once this is done, it’s time for the last step…

Now that you know how the ‘new you’ lives, it’s crucial that you remind yourself of this DAILY… multiple times a day.

So you’ll not only be performing the breathing techniques but living like the new you.

There’s nothing to fix because there’s NOTHING wrong with your new identity. You’re starting with a clean slate.

For example, the new identity will be focused on being healthy… NOT weight loss.

When faced with food temptations, you’ll bring yourself to the present, and think, “Hmm… I wouldn’t eat this cookie!” – so you don’t.

Because it’s a new, different you who does what’s right.

The question to always ask when faced with a temptation/decision would be, “What would new me do?”

In this situation, you’d probably eat some cold fruit or not eat junk food.

It’s inevitable to face some resistance because the old identity is still in you… but it will NEVER be as tough as it was before.

You’re not in a fight with the old you because you’re constantly present and living like the new you.

There’s nothing wrong with you and nothing to fix because you’ve shifted your identity.

You may notice that procrastination disappears because your new identity will do what he/she needs to do to win.

That’s what winners do.

Do you get it?

With breathing techniques, knowing what you want, and most importantly, living as the new person you want to be, you will bring whatever you desire to reality.

Life will be ‘lighter,’ fun, and an exciting adventure. When you take 2 steps forward, you’ll keep going forward instead of taking 3 steps back.

Your actions multiply and you’ll make up for lost time.

Results will come faster than you can imagine. The universe is on your side and must give you what you believe.

This is the real power of identity shifting.

Don’t fix a faulty identity. Just shift to a new one.

You can do it.

The identity we inherit in childhood is often shaped not by our true selves but by how parents, teachers, and others perceive us. Were we the well-behaved child, the difficult one, the star athlete, or the quiet loner? These were just labels, ones we didn’t choose.

The good news is, we don’t have to carry those labels with us forever. We’re not stuck with an identity that was shaped by others. At any time, we can let go of the roles that don’t fit and step into who we truly are.