194 - How to Build A New Identity

Amy Ledin raises an intriguing question at the heart of today's
discussion: 'What new habits are now a part of your daily life
that weren't here before?' 


In this thought-provoking episode, Amy discusses the journey of
evolving one's identity to foster a healthier, more fulfilling
life. She shares insights into the psychological shifts necessary
for adopting new habits and the importance of belief in oneself.
Through engaging narratives and evidence-based strategies, she
provides listeners with the tools to shift their identity in
alignment with their health and personal goals.


Key Takeaways:


Understand the link between identity belief and behavior
alignment.

How to achieve internal harmony through aligned beliefs and
actions.

How environmental influences and social circles can impact
your identity shift.



“The more that you're really clear on this is, this is who I want
to be, this is the identity I'm chasing, that becomes easier.
Now, people are motivated to seek confirmation and validation of
their self-concept. So, if an individual holds a belief about a
particular aspect of their identity, they may actively speak that
out.”  - Amy Ledin


 


 


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Resources: 


Build Your Health Character with me

5 for 50 Challenge

How to Build Your First Fat-Loss Diet

Amy’s Follow-Through Challenge

5 Common Mistakes Women Over 40 Make That Lead to Belly Fat

Meals over Macros & Structured Flexibility



 


Transcript:


Amy Ledin


0:00


There's also like, the self-fulfilling prophecy. It's believing
in a particular aspect of that identity, you perceive yourself in
a certain way, and eventually, you come into it. This is why I do
believe in playing the role, hence, building the health
character. At first, you're not going to be there, of course,
you're not going to be there. But you want to already be clear on
the things that need to happen to be there and start playing
aspects of that.


 


Amy Ledin


0:28


What are you doing to create your dream life or your best self?
Why do we see some thrive through challenges while others
struggle? Welcome to F* It!, a podcast where I talk about the
main Fs in my life that have helped me in creating my best self:
faith, family, forgiveness, food, fitness, and formula. Hi, my
name is Amy Ledin and most would say that I've had my fair share
of struggles. Whether it was placing my baby for adoption at 18,
facing my marriage-ending affair, or battling stage four cancer
for almost seven years, it's safe to say that I've been through a
lot. Join me as I take you through my story, my journeys, and
share with you the tactical strategies every single week that
will help you thrive and overcome anything you face. That's
right, I'm going to show you how to create a future self that
you'll be proud of. So buckle up, get ready for the ride as I
take you through my story and bring other guests on that have
helped me along the way. 


 


Amy Ledin


1:20


Okay, if your old life looks similar to your new life, you're
most likely just playing a role. And in fact, you've really just
not changed your identity, you're just good at playing that part.
Can you hear me out because today we're going to talk all about
shifting your identity and what that really looks like. But the
reason this came up and why I've been sharing this a lot on my
Instagram stories is that research has shown once a person
believes in a particular aspect of their identity, they're more
likely to act in alignment with that belief. It's like the person
that quit smoking and just starts to say, I'm not a smoker and
then these are the behaviors of a nonsmoker, right? I don't take
as many breaks anymore, or whatever it may be. This could also be
someone going from being unhealthy to I'm healthy and what do
those behaviors look like? And the more that you are able to
believe in these particular aspects of your identity, you're just
more likely to pull yourself towards that alignment and then it
just makes those habits a lot easier to follow. You know, I'd
shared on my Instagram stories, when we got up here to Canada, it
was a real big change not just in my routine but in the weather
and just getting into the habit of my first thing in the morning,
getting a walk in instead, walk started to be kind of just
whenever and then before you know what I was breaking my streak.
And so I needed to get back to the core identity of I am someone
that walks every day. Period. Right? I mean, I get it, things
happen, life happens. But I wanted to my core for that to be
similar to brushing my teeth in that it would just feel weird.
It's just part of my identity of doing these things every day.
And so it just got me thinking about when it comes to you
becoming this new person, you should see, it's not going to be
maybe necessarily overnight, but if I was to compare my life to
five, seven years ago, it is completely different. I'm talking
completely, like, I have changed my routines, like I've just my
whole life has changed. And you know, that is always going to be
evident in those things.


 


Amy Ledin


3:25


And this all came up because Erik had a returning client that's
been with Lean Bodies Consulting over the years a couple of
times, so not new to losing weight. And back, this person now is
down like 30, or 40 pounds has probably about double that to go.
So let's say like 70 to 80 pounds, but about halfway there. And
this client's like, you know what? I got it from here. I'm good.
You know what? I'm losing and so thanks for everything and I'll
see you later. And you know, Erik and I have discussed this, this
is very common with people in that they are seeing that
measurable thing of the losing the weight is like their problem
is solved, right? And so Erik replied, I'm sure it really
surprised this person because Erik said, but you don't have it
from here. Sure, you know how to lose weight. You've done this
before. And back two years ago, you lost 40 pounds, but we're
still back here, you've not changed who you are, what new habits
are now a part of your daily life that weren't here before. And
if you can't list off a ton of them, well, then you know what,
you're just playing a role, you really haven't shifted that
identity. Right?


 


Amy Ledin


4:28


So this, you know, comes up quite often and so I wanted to kind
of go through some of these things just to maybe, hey, maybe
they'll help you I know they've helped me. You know, for me, it
used to be the test of how do I behave on vacations? And don't
get me wrong, I know that when we're on vacation, at least when
it comes to like my fitness and my eating, it is going to be a
little bit different. But is it going to be a free-for-all where
I don't even walk and I don't even go to the gym and I'm just
eating my face off? No. Now, was I like that maybe 10 years ago?
Yes. And that tells me that I haven't shifted my identity of
becoming this person. And the reason why you want to do this is
it becomes easier to live here. When we are always fighting it,
we're fighting the alignment, we're gonna have that inner bitch
really talking to us a lot, because we're just not showing up to
the potential of where we need to be, right? And so, testing your
weekends, testing vacations, testing these one-off days to just
really see how you behave.


 


Amy Ledin


5:25


Now, I wanted to dive in deeper to why is it that we are more
likely to act in alignment? Why does it make it easier? Well,
there's a lot of areas, some key factors that come into play when
we are working on that self-identity and one of them is
consistency and cognitive dissonance. This is where humans have
the natural inclination towards cognitive consistency. Hey, when
our beliefs, our attitudes, and our behaviors are aligned we do
experience this sense of internal harmony. This is really what
we're chasing. We are chasing just feeling good. We may think
that we're chasing, losing the weight or making all the money,
but what we're really chasing is all the behaviors and processes
that it takes to get there. It is the daily walks, it is the meal
prepping, it is learning to say no to certain spending binge
because you're trying to save. It's all of those things, whatever
that goal is and then like, being aligned, we really were craving
that internal harmony, right? Now, when we don't have cognitive,
on the other hand, with cognitive dissonance, that discomfort
arising from conflicting beliefs and actions, it doesn't make us
want to go with, move towards that and this is where we will
start to hear a lot of that inner bitch talking and complaining
and saying things to us, because we're just not living there.
Right?


 


Amy Ledin


6:56


So what you could do in this area, this is where you would want
to get really clear on your beliefs, what you're chasing, your
identity. For our clients, I always want them to build a health
character. In fact, in the show notes, I believe, we would have a
link where you can go sign up and do the free health character,
because you've got to have some clarity on who you're trying to
be. It's like with a client of mine, if we're a few months in,
I'm going to continue to remind them, okay, well, who are we
chasing here? And not just like a look not just a number, like,
how does she behave? What does she do on a daily basis? What time
is she getting up every day? Those details matter to our brain
because here's the thing, the more that you start to align
yourself with that you'll just be pulled towards it. The more
that you're really clear on this is, this is who I want to be,
this is the identity I'm chasing, that becomes easier. Now,
people are motivated to seek confirmation and validation of their
self-concept. So, if an individual holds a belief about a
particular aspect of their identity, they may actively speak that
out. So this is where building that health character and I have
mine very detailed, she's someone that every day, does some form
of meal prep, she has every day, some form of movement. And the
more that I put that in writing, and really, I'm going to seek
validation from those things that I've already deemed as being
part of that identity, if that makes sense, right? So now you're
like, well, this is what a healthy person would do. And then
there's also like, the self-fulfilling prophecy. It's like
believing in a particular aspect of that identity, you perceive
yourself in a certain way, and eventually, you come into it. This
is why I do believe in playing the role, hence, building the
health character. At first, you're not going to be there, of
course, you're not going to be there. But you want to already be
clear on the things that need to happen to be there and start
playing aspects of that. I really, when I'm going to the grocery
store, I play that health character role, especially those first
few times where maybe, it may be in the past going to Publix, for
example, I love Publix grocery stores, and their cakes and their
frosting are so amazing. And I really had to build this
character, like my health character, she doesn't go over to the
bakery to tempt herself, she's sticking to the perimeter of the
grocery store and this is, when she goes to the grocery store,
she makes sure that she doesn't buy things that are going to
tempt her. And I just go into all that detail because it just
makes it so much easier with just playing right into the role.


 


Amy Ledin


9:44


And then of course, there's other things that can help shift your
identity. One would be around other people's influence. There is
a huge power in your environment. In fact, in one of the books
that I read, Willpower Doesn't Work, he talked about this
phenomenon, that you can have the best strategy, you could have
your diet laid out, your training laid out, but let's say no one
around you is really supporting that or living that way, it's
actually going to be harder for that person versus the person
that has really no plan but their group of friends, their tribe,
their family, their people, they live healthy lifestyles, that
person is more likely to shift their identity to their tribe,
than that person that had all the strategies on paper. And so
what this tells you is you want to find other people that are
living like you. We have in our Look Like You Train program,
which it is actually getting ready to enroll, I don't know, by
the time this one launches, we'll see. But at the beginning of
December, we enroll for that, but one of the powers of our
Facebook group, you've got almost 500 ladies in there, but we're
all chasing similar goals, right? So when we start to align
ourselves with these people, even if your habit isn't, as of yet
to say walk daily, you better believe by the end of those 12
weeks in that group, you're walking daily. One of them is that we
don't consume caffeine, the first two hours upon waking, and when
people get in the group, that's one of the things they're like,
oh my gosh, that's just so crazy. No way, I'm not gonna do it.
And then as time goes on, they see their tribe, they see their
people doing these things, and guess what, it starts to pull them
towards that and they start to live in that way. So don't
discount your friendships, your environment, your home in helping
you shift your identity.


 


Amy Ledin


11:46


But the most important thing to ask yourself today is, is my life
looking similar to what it looked like last year? And if it does
look similar, well, then you know what, it's time to put some of
these things in writing some of these habits, some of these
behaviors that will truly help you get to the new identity that
you're, you're so badly wanting to be at, and really start to
measure those on a daily basis. You know, like I said, you'll see
on my Instagram right now I'm back, you know, now it's probably
three and a half weeks of walking straight. But it's, it's back
to being my thing, that first thing in the morning, I go for a
walk. And I want that to stay with me. And so I'm going to
continue to really get that clarity around what that new identity
looks like so I can continue to shift towards it. So I hope this
one helps you in working on yours, feel free to download the How
To Create Your Health Character, that's just one area of your
life that you can build one in, but the email series that gets
sent to you also will show you how to put this into other areas
of your life and really just hope to continue to help you level
up. So, have a great one.


 


Amy Ledin


12:51


Okay, I'm on a mission. As you know, if you've been following
along, I have a goal to be at top 100 podcasts. And it's less
about that top 100 and more about I want to make an impact. I
want more people to hear F* It! and learn from all of the
mistakes that I've made, along with me bringing on really special
guests for you. So my ask here is this. I want you to screenshot
this episode today and share it on your social media, share it
with a friend, you know, tag me in it. Go give me a review, of
course, if you're really feeling it, and rate me. You know, this
is the only way things are gonna get seen here. And in a big
world of tons and tons of podcasts, I'm hoping that you're going
to choose mine and help me on my mission.


#5for50 #5for50FamilyEdition #AmyLedin #AmyLedin.com #ErikLedin
#LeanBodiesConsulting #LBC #Kamele #KamelePerez


 


 


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