“I cannot let the fear of the past color the future.”
~ Julie Kagawa
A difficult obstacle in the learning journey to success is an idea that James Clear discusses towards the end of his book, Atomic Habits, that I believe is maybe one of the most important concepts for any person to wrap their head around.
This idea is one I think a majority of people struggle with in their quest to form good habits and get to the next level of success.
And it goes like this: As you create and form new habits that lead to success, these habits can also be the ones that hold you back.
Say what?
Think about it like this. You form new habits or develop a system that gives you growth and success. These new changes work for you. They become part of the journey where you feel good about your progress. They become part of your routine.
If you are not careful, these habits can form who you are as a person. They become your identity and as a result you slowly put on blinders to the weak spots and areas of growth that need to be nurtured. And as a result you stop growing and plateau.
It is only when an event or person or challenge enters your life and exposes the weakness they catch us off guard. When something is very sacred to us like teaching, coaching, parenting, running a business, etc., the more we absorb these ideas as part of who we are as a person. It becomes part of our identity.
When I process this idea through this viewpoint, I understand why teachers ignore innovative teaching methods to stick to their tried-and-true methods. I realize why maybe I stick to a certain mentality as a coach of youth players and don’t process new ideas. An admin or leader doing what they always do as they have been doing it a certain way for 15–20 years.
The challenge becomes to prevent this single idea, this single part of your life, this passion area as being a major portion of who you are.
As stated in Atomic Habits, the author quotes Paul Graham
“Keep your identity small. The more you let a single belief define you, the less capable you are of adapting when life challenges you. If you tie everything up in being the point guard or the partner at the firm, then the loss of that facet of your life will wreck you.”
To come full circle, let the past be a teaching tool of what works and what does not. If something has not worked, then analyze all the steps leading to the roadblock and find what needs to improved. Don’t let your blinders of current success keep you from overlooking pockets of weakness that need improvement.
While you push to improve in those areas, keep perspective and check yourself to ensure that the work you do does not define you to where if that element of your life disappeared tomorrow you would not end up in an identity crisis.
Continue to redefine yourself so you are always agile and adaptable to seasons of change that come your way. If you do that, then your future will not be painted with the same paintbrushes of past failures.
