The Quality of Your Life Depends on the Quality of Your Identity

We live in a world that is constantly changing.  If you take a look around, you’ll see that there is virtually nothing that stays exactly the same.  With all of these changes surrounding us, we feel a need for certainty.  We want something to stay the same, something that we can depend on.  In order for this to happen, this thing that is constant must be something that you can control.  It is your identity.  We all feel a need for our identity to stay the same.  If someone view himself as very very conservative and someone asks him to do something that is completely radical, he might say, “Oh no, I couldn’t do that. It’s just not me!”  Someone’s identity is based off of his comfort zone.  If someone expands their comfort zone, his identity will also expand.

Tony Robbins once likened one’s identity with temperature.  Let’s assume that your temperature is normally 78 degrees.  Now remember, this 78 degrees is your comfort zone or identity.  If you one day perform at 72 degrees, the heaters will kick in!  They’ll say, “You’re a 78 degreer, not a 72!  Come on now, lets do better!” You will be motivated to get back to where you were before.  Now, some people might deliberately lower their “temperature” in order to feel “safe”.  If they lower their standard to 68 degrees and they perform at 72 degrees, then they might be happy with themselves, however, the air conditioning will kick on and start to lower their performance back down to 68 degrees.

But! If one was to deliberately raise his standard (by stretching his comfort zone and raising his identity of himself) then the heaters will kick in more often until he normally does perform at his new standard.  And do you want to know what the fastest way to change your identity is? Change your state! Change your emotions right now by changing your physiology.  Change how you walk, talk, interact with others.  This will change your identity. 

Once we begin to expect more from ourselves and raise our own standards, we will achieve more, pursue our dreams, and find more joy in life!  Does that sound like a good deal?