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I am stuck in bad creative habits

Tridentity

TRYDENTITY@2x

The Context

Although it can be energizing to work with people who execute everything they’ve promised, it can also be infuriating. Particularly if you are the kind of person who procrastinates and struggles to finish projects, drowning in your own raging waters and deadly currents of bad habits often creates significant resentment towards those with executional prowess. Screw those heroes with all their discipline and healthy patterns, you think. And yet, getting pissed at people who get things done easily and diligently rarely helps you do the same. It saps you of the energy and motivation you need to take action.

The Tool

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Tridentity

TRIDENTITY— Going back to ground zero of your unique motivational system to start or stop behaviors

One tactic that’s helpful is to fill in the blank of the following. You can do just about anything as long as you blank. If you learn to solve this equation, executional minefields like starting new habits and ending old ones are alarmingly easier. Answer that question, and your executional woes will be no more. What part of your personality could you engage to help get things done?

Scott's Take

Scott's Take

My personality is profoundly rebellious and individualistic. And so, my ability to choose is very important to me. Establishing my own idiosyncratic way of doing things is very important to me. Meaning, whatever new habit or discipline requires my attention, as long as it is framed as an expression of identity and freedom choice, then it will get done. Take quitting sugar. It was an exercise in futility when it was attached to my pointless goals of dieting, preventing cavities and losing weight. But when my healthy eating choices were grandiosely reframed as meaning making opportunities, as public expressions of my cherished identity as a clean individual who, unlike the rest of the world, actually had control over his compulsions and addictions, then it was a piece of cake. Or in my case, no cake at all. Because sugar wasn’t the craving, playing by my own rules was. Defying people’s expectations was.

The Rest

Remember, if your inner belief is strong, it can withstand any external pressure. If you still struggle to lock into lifelong healthy creative habits, go back to ground zero. What identity is at the foundation of your personal creativity management system?

The Benefits

Lock into healthy, productive, lifelong creative habits
Engaging your core personality to execute difficult tasks
Reduce resentment for people that motivate differently than you
Leverage your authentic self in the service of your goals

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