02: Behavior

What is behaviour?

Mindset shapes how we interpret the world. But when those interpretations turn into a physical action,  that’s behaviour.

Behaviour is how your internal world becomes visible. It’s the decisions you make, the habits you repeat, and the responses you default to under pressure.

And unlike mindset, behaviour can be observed, measured, and changed.

What does behaviour change mean?

Most people believe behaviour change like a switch. We decide to do something differently one day, make a commitment to doing it, and then wonder why it doesn’t stick. But it’s not as simple as just a single decision. 

It’s a process, or a system and once you think about it in this way, almost every single habit or behaviour you want to change is successful.

It operates on two levels: identity (who you believe you are) and stage (where you actually are in the process of changing). 

It all begins with who you want to be

James Clear explains in Atomic Habits, that most people try to change behaviour from the outside in. That typically looks like setting goals, building habits, tracking progress – all the things we’ve always been told we have to do.

But really, lasting meaningful change works from the inside out. We have to look at who we are, and who we want to become – because we don’t rise to the level of our goals, we simply fall to the level of our identity.

It’s not “what do I want to achieve”, it’s much deeper and more powerful than that – it’s “who do I want to become?”

Clear (2018) uses an analogy of two people who have quit smoking. When the two were out with friends and offered a cigarette, the first person says “no thank you, I don’t smoke anymore” and the second person says “no thank you, I’m not a smoker”. 

There is a true differentiation between these two statements, that has a very different intention.

The second person did not identify themselves as a smoker – this is incredibly powerful. While the other still thinks about themself in that way.

It’s a change in perspective, and a shift in what you think your identity is. This is how true habits are successful, and we can change our behaviour.

M.

Design more of the good stuff.