It’s a thing.
I don’t think you can literally tongue magic millions of dollars before you just be chanting a phrase, but it looks like there is something to saying your goals out loud.
A strange lil’ trick for behavior change in psychology is leveraging social contracts. We tend to not want to be hypocrites– so when we repeatedly tell others we’re going to do something, we increase our likelihoods of doing it.
A lot of us already know this, maybe even do it, but I’m more interested in what it does to the social contract you have with yourself.
My writing career is a chicken-egg scenario, not sure which came first. Was I interested or did I become interested after proclaiming I was going to do it?
Either way, I ended up doing it and now won’t change.
I said I was after mastery so many times, that now something in my brain sets off an alarm anytime I engage with activities that move me away from it, even if it’s slight… and I immediately return.
I’ve built my identity around the things I do.
In a way, you’re not just proclaiming what you want to happen– you’re announcing who you’re going to become.
You’re telling the world this is my character and when you do that, it’s near impossible to go back on your word.
Sound strange?
Performance coaches use this same technique to create lasting change. Attacking behavior is temporary, but identity… that’s what lasts– that’s what will have you maintain when no one’s looking.
And that’s what matters.
Where do you want change?
Health, finance, a new career?
Speak it into existence. Make it your identity. First, get clear on who the type of person that has the thing you want is? If it’s health, maybe that’s the type of person who enjoys being active and eating in moderation. Money? This could be the type of person who enjoys tracking and growing their finances.
It’s not about the thing itself, it’s what creates the thing.
Before I became a copywriter, the question was what exactly do they do? I became that, by doing it…. and I only started doing it after I told anyone who would listen, this is what I’m after.
Sure enough, that’s what I got.
Hurtin’ for change? Start chanting my friends, because it looks like for each and every one of us– our word becomes our bond.
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