Who Are You?

   Good Morning Friends!  Are you working on new habits for the new year?  I hope you have dreams and goals and are pursuing them, but if you're like most people, beginning a new habit can be an uphill battle, and you will probably have to work at it for some time to make it a routine.  There is a mindset though that can help you as you begin your transformation from who you are right now to the best version of you.  Creating new habits is not just about adding something new to our lives, it's about becoming someone different in the process.  Terri Savelle Foy, in her book, Live Your Dreams:  A 90 Day Dreams and Goals Devotional, poses the question, "Who do you need to become in order to have the dreams in your heart?"  

    Most of the habits and resolutions we make are not about the action itself, but about who we become by doing that action.  If you set a resolution to eat more salads this year, it's probably not just because you feel like eating salad.  It's because you want to become a healthier person.  Likewise, if your goal is to make time for a weekly date night, it's not just for the fun of date night, it's because you want to become a better spouse. 

    Sometimes amidst the struggle of trying to create new routines, we forget that it's about the process of becoming.  We want so desperately to get the end result, being ten pounds lighter or speaking that new language, that we forget the joy in the journey.  Growth takes time and effort, but keeping this mindset in perspective can help you along the way.  Jack Canfield states it beautifully in The Success Principles when he says, "What can never be taken away is who you have become in the process of achieving your goal."  

    Our habits and routines are the tools we use to reach our end goals, but ultimately, we have dreams and goals because of who we are and who we hope to become.  As you focus on your action steps this week, try to see yourself as your end goal, a healthy person, or a debt free individual, or an entrepreneur. See yourself as the person you desire to create through your new habits. The more you change your vision of yourself, the easier it will be to align your actions with that vision. Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "Create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into that picture as if it were already true." 

    This week, keep working on your new habits, routines, and goals, but allow your focus to rest on the bigger picture. Who are you becoming?  And what type of life are you creating by your habits?  Keep the ideal version of you in mind, and it will be a lot easier to live into your new habits.  I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.L.W.