Someone asked me yesterday if I actually plan on keeping the Mind of a Trevor going. So, this morning, I’m thinking about goals.

Current behaviors are a reflection of our current identity. What you do is a mirror image of the type of person you think you are.

A breakthrough for me was shifting my goals from performance and appearance to identity based.

“I’m going to run a half marathon” or “I’m losing 20 pounds” are performance and appearance goals, and they’re awesome. But how many times have we set similar goals, only to have our year defined by the number of empty potato chip bags rather than miles logged?

Performance and appearance goals are great if you already have a sustainable routine- without one, you’re destined to carb binge. So, what’s missing?

In my opinion, a little reverse engineering.

“I’m going to maintain a daily email newsletter for 2018” is a neat performance goal. Yay! Good for me! But, when I think about a year-long challenge, with zero skipped days and subscribers actually reading, etc, it gets intimidating. The over-thinking floodgates open. Eventually, I’ll skip a day, because who really cares, right? A skipped day becomes a skipped week, then month and, eventually, I’m a person who didn’t do the thing I said I was going to do. That carries over into everything else, whether consciously or unconsciously. I’ve been that guy a whole lot, and it stinks.

So, I shifted my focus to an identity based goal.

I’m the type of person who wakes up early and writes everyday.

I can wrap my head around that. I’m just the guy who does the thing. Emboldened by this new identity, I can develop habit. I mean, the action’s in the description- wake up early and write. Zero ambiguity.

Simple. Not easy, but simple. And simple's key.

For 2018, I’m the guy who wakes up early and writes everyday.

I’m thankful for:

-Herbie Hancock

The man’s a genius. I’ve been binging on the Headhunters lately.

-Spellcheck

I’m a man of many strengths, but spelling simply isn’t one of them. Been knocked out in the first round of every spelling bee in my life.

-Broken, Beat and Scarred by Metallica

An under-appreciated tune off the Death Magnetic record. Check it out.

January 9! Here we go!