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A Habit Is Who You Are, Not What You Do
Author Jen Sincero says ‘badass habits’ require an identity shift
At the end of a milestone event — like a year or, say, a global pandemic — we have a tendency to reflect on all the things we’d like to achieve, moving forward. With this impulse comes a renewed interest in changing our habits through a slew of tips, tricks, and behavior hacks.
Now, the bestselling author Jen Sincero is back with a new book that throws a wrench into our conventional, habit-building wisdom. In Badass Habits, she asserts that changing your habits is as much about shifting your perception of who you are as it is a byproduct of systems and strategies to make the change stick. Forge spoke with Sincero about overcoming fear of the unknown to build the habits we want.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
At Forge, we’re pretty obsessed with habits — how to form them, how to break them. Usually, we tend to focus on strategies for shifting behavior. But in your book, you write that the first step in changing habits is an identity shift: You have to see yourself as the type of person who does X thing. Then comes the strategizing.
When we identify as a certain person, it informs how we think and believe, and just generally behave. And I…
