This morning, I lingered in my bed until late. Despite that, I went for a run. It started okay, but upgraded to great after a few minutes. Running felt good, natural, what I should be doing right now. I even went for a longer path than initially planned, just because I wanted to.

This feeling of adequacy, of doing something natural, when exercising of all things, would have baffled the Me from a year ago. Not that I stay inside all the time; walking around is one of my favorite things to do. But exercise is different. Exercise is hard, and intentional, and sweaty, and it makes you feel like shit. I was not someone who exercised.

I am now. I exercise 6 days a week, every day but Monday. Sometimes I miss, but I go back to it soon after. And this happened thanks to my habits.

The Power of Habits

Atomic Habits by James Clear is my go-to book about habits. It's every thing I like for a productivity book: well-written and straight to the point, with clear actionable advice and warning that it doesn't apply to everything. If you're interested in habits, read it.

But two ideas struck with me long after finishing the book: habits make identity, and even small habits count.

Identity and Habits

James Clear has a great one-liner (out of many) about this:

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.

Voting theory issues aside (what's the VSE of my internal voting system?), this idea gives a clear way to influence your identity: do what the person you want to be would do. Want to be a writer? Writer writes. So write. Want to be someone who exercises? Then exercise. Clear calls these identity-based habits. Another way to put it is that you're changing your baseline. If you're writing a bit every day, then what feels weird is if you don't write. Same for playing the piano or exercising.

Once identity is changed, it becomes easier to put productivity and improvement systems in place -- you stop getting in your own way. Such systems then deliver outcomes. So instead of focusing on outcomes, one should shape her identity, and then her systems. Outcomes will follow

This worked tremendously well for me. After starting my exercising habit last year, I felt a real shift in my identity, from someone who doesn't exercise to someone who does. In turn, this helped me to build a system for improving my physical shape, and I'm feeling the outcomes one year later...

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