Many of us will decide that we want change in our lives. But typically we approach it backwards. An NLP teacher of mine drew out a map to the best approach to change and I’ve never forgotten it. 

It all starts with understanding our identity first and making changes there which creates an effortless path to what we want.

But typically we start by changing our environment. We drag out the treadmill or throw out all our junk food. We create the perfect cornhole court setup and buy the best bags we can find.

Our hope is that if we change our environment our behaviors will change with it. If I clean off the treadmill I’ll use it right? If I only have healthy food in the house, I can’t eat junk… If I have the right cornhole bags and set up, I will be better…

This should then influence our potential. In other words, we get better. Which we hope changes our beliefs. In other words, we start believing in ourselves. Which ultimately changes our values and our identity. We become health nuts, gym rats, advanced cornhole players, etc…

The problem with this is that changing our environment doesn’t change our behaviors. Not for very long. Because if we don’t self-identify as the person we want to be, everything falls apart.

The good news is, once we change our identity, our values, beliefs, potential, behavior, and environment effortlessly change. So everything is a lot easier.

So today check in with those “I Am” statements. If you are identifying as a crappy cornhole player, it won’t matter what bags you buy. As someone that sucks at exercising… well then it will be.

You don’t have to lie to yourself but you can use statements that indicate motion. “I am getting better every single day” “I am feeling more like XYZ every day”

Try it and see what happens!