When I was learning to code I had a bad habit of adding a modifier every time I talked about it.
“I’m an aspiring programmer”.
“I’m trying to be a data analyst”.
But it wasn’t until I fully took on that identity that I made real progress.
I stopped spinning my wheels, and took my craft serious.
And even though I know this from experience, I found myself in the same trap when I started writing online.
I was hesitant to call myself a writer… have I really earned the right?
Well I got my answer recently when I re-read an old favorite from Steven Pressfield called “The War of Art”.
It’s about the many struggles creatives face, and how they all relate back to resistance… an unseen force that fills us with doubt, causes us to procrastinate, and of course makes us do things like call ourselves “aspiring” writers.
Which is exactly what resistance wants, because it knows that aspiring to something doesn’t mean jack.
Steven Pressfield’s advice on when you become a writer is simple.
It’s not when you’ve published a book.
It’s not when you’ve been writing for 10 years.
It’s when YOU decide that you’re a writer.
It’s when the switch flips in your mind and you commit to the identity.
That’s it.
And this applies to everything we do:
You don’t become fit when you have the muscles or the abs, that’s just when everyone else sees it.
No, you become fit when you make the conscious decision to get in shape and change for the better.
Because when you see yourself as the person you want to be, you behave differently.
You get up early, or stay up late, and you do the work. You do it even when you’re tired, and especially when you’re unmotivated.
Because that’s what a writer does. That’s what an artist does. That’s what a fit person does.
So decide today that you are the thing you want to be, and start behaving like it. Write it down on a piece of paper each day, or say it in front of the mirror.
Because here’s the secret:
The hardest part isn’t going from bad to good, or from good to great… The hardest part is going from 0 → 1.
You’re going from never lifting, never writing, etc., to taking it on as an identity, and that’s when resistance and imposter syndrome try to snuff out your dream before it can gain momentum.
Most people don’t quit writing or working out after two years… It’s the first few blog posts, the first months at the gym, the first lines of code, that really make or break people.
It all starts with a mindset shift.
A commitment to your new identity, and knowing that you’ll see your vision way before anyone else does.
So you’re not trying to be anything… you already are.
Now go out into the world, do the work, and before long everyone else will know it too.
Thanks for reading,
-Josh.