Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that when you are learning a new skill,
Speaker 1: you can motivate yourself to continue in a positive direction
Speaker 1: by changing your language. The skill isn't something you do,
Speaker 1: it is who you are. It makes a bigger difference
Speaker 1: then you might think. Today's tip like another this week
Speaker 1: comes from Whitney Johnson's new book Smart Growth. In this book,
Speaker 1: Whitney explores how people learn and change and achieve their goals.
Speaker 1: Learning any new skill can be challenging. You have to
Speaker 1: keep working and practicing even when the rewards aren't readily apparent.
Speaker 1: But fortunately, a very simple language change can help. Whitney
Speaker 1: suggests that instead of saying you do the particular skill,
Speaker 1: talk about it as part of your identity. So I run,
Speaker 1: or I go for a run or anything along that
Speaker 1: becomes I'm a runner. I cooked new stuff from my
Speaker 1: family becomes I am a home chef. In another episode
Speaker 1: this week, I talked about my daughter learning to play
Speaker 1: the trumpet. She should tell people that she is a
Speaker 1: trumpet player rather than that she plays the instrument. Now,
Speaker 1: with some skills we might feel like a fraud announcing this.
Speaker 1: At the beginning, a trumpet player should at least theoretically
Speaker 1: play some notes, and as we discussed, it takes a
Speaker 1: few months to get past the breathy phase and into
Speaker 1: controlled notes and finally into recognizable tunes. Calling yourself a
Speaker 1: trumpet player in this phase might seem like a stretch,
Speaker 1: and yet the language matters. Whitney points to studies finding
Speaker 1: that people who said I am a voter voted at
Speaker 1: a rate that was eleven percentage points higher than people
Speaker 1: who said I vote. Identities are powerful. When we identify
Speaker 1: as something, we are more likely to adopt the behaviors
Speaker 1: that are congruent with that identity. When something is just
Speaker 1: something we do well, we could not do it. Since
Speaker 1: pretty much everything comes down to sheer volume of time
Speaker 1: spent practicing, the more we adopt the congruent behaviors, the
Speaker 1: better off we will be. So try changing your language.
Speaker 1: I don't just record a podcast. I am a podcaster.
Speaker 1: I don't just write books. I am an author, I
Speaker 1: am a singer, I am a runner. What identities would
Speaker 1: you like to adopt? Try changing your language to who
Speaker 1: you are, not just what you do and you might
Speaker 1: be more likely to keep the identity that you are
Speaker 1: trying on. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.