If You Don't Believe You're A Writer RIGHT NOW, You'll Never Become One.
Change Your Identity, And You'll Achieve Your Desired Outcome
Author’s Note:
Subscribe to my Substack publication and I’ll send you a link to the PDF called A Writer’s Mental Toolbox To Enjoy Every Writing Session.
For a long time, whenever anyone would ask me, "What do you do for a living?" I would lower my head, crunch my shoulders inwards, smile nervously and reply in a whisper. "I am a writer."
Why did I make myself and my reply small? Because I felt small.
Why did I feel small? Because I thought I wasn't worthy enough to call myself a writer.
I had no books published and no stories or essays published in any magazine or online. I wasn't earning an income as a writer to validate that it was my profession. And I knew that whenever I said I am a writer, the usual reaction is - oh, that's just a hobby - or - so, you are one of the starving artists.
This was the story of the first five years of my writing career.
Things have changed in the past year.
Now when I am asked, "What do you do for a living?" I keep my head straight and shoulders strong, smile nervously (because I am still a work-in-progress) and reply audibly. "I am a writer. Would you like to read my work?"
So what happened last year when I shifted from feeling small to feeling a worthy writer?
I started identifying myself as a writer.
Identity - Process - Outcome
Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe. - James Clear, Atomic Habits
When I decided I wanted to be a writer, my goal was to write my novel. I thought I needed to have a published book to call myself and be seen (and taken seriously) as a writer.
I wasted my first three years as a writer with this thought process. I didn't write a single word of that novel.
Why did I fail? Two reasons -
One, I have no system or process that would help me write my novel.
Two, I didn't believe I was a writer worth reading.
This is how most of us start off when trying to achieve a goal - We start at the goal/outcome, and then we think when we reach it, then we can believe in ourselves to be a success.
Which is why most of us fail.
What we should do instead is start by believing in ourselves.
For the first three years, I didn't believe I had what it takes to be a writer. But I forgot that if I am blessed with this dream, I have all that I need inside me to make it come true.
The following two years were all about believing in myself and giving myself a chance to take a shot at writing. I create schedules and systems that would help me write every day. I changed my eating pattern from 3 meals to 2 meals a day so that I have a chunk for 4 hours in the afternoon to work on my work-in-progress. I changed my lifestyle and choices to what I believe my ideal writer self would prefer. I gradually altered my beliefs about what it means to be a writer in today's world.
The past year I spent all my energy to keep writing and publishing my work online. When I had a success, no matter how tiny, I'd pat myself on my back and get back to work. When I failed, no matter how big, I'd still pat myself on my back, get up and get back to work.
Thanks to the consistent effort I am putting in, I am seeing wins of different sizes in my writing journey. I am much more confident and capable as a writer. I enjoy every single of my writing sessions and can't wait to write the next day again. I have 1300+ friends resonating with and appreciating my words.
Thus, making me keep striving towards my dream.
This is how you achieve your writing goals -
You first believe that you have what it takes to be a writer.
You start acting like one, putting in the consistent and sustainable effort.
And eventually, you become a writer through your small and big wins.
As author James Clear says in his book Atomic Habits -
Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. This leads us to outcome-based habits. The alternative is to build identity-based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become.
When you go for an outcome-based habit (in our case, writing a book), we are just focusing on getting this one book done by any and all means.
But when we build an identity-based habit (in our case, becoming a person who writes), we create a sustainable relationship with our writer soul and end up writing for life.
Isn't that what we writers want?
Moral of the story -
If you want to become a writer, start with first identifying yourself as one by believing in yourself and your words.
Next, build a process that helps you write consistently and earns you small wins.
Over time, you'll get enough evidence to prove that not only is your outcome near, but you have also become the outcome - A Writer.
