Have you ever set out to achieve a goal and thought, I’ve been here before? What will make this time different? How will I stick with it? How will I maintain my results once I get there?
Whether your goal is to lose weight, quit smoking, grow a business, earn a degree, improve a relationship, or simply create more peace and joy in your life, you’re working toward something you believe will improve your experience of life.
Yet despite your best intentions, you may find yourself struggling to make lasting progress. You might even feel like you’ve ended up right back where you started.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. I’ve been there too.
One of the things I’ve learned as a hypnotherapist is that most people already know what they should do to achieve their goals. They know what actions would move them forward. Yet knowing what to do and consistently doing it are often two very different things.
So what makes the difference between temporary change and lasting transformation?
Most people believe the answer is more discipline, more motivation, or more willpower.
As a hypnotherapist, I’ve found that lasting change rarely comes from willpower alone. The people who create lasting transformation don’t just change their behavior. They change what they believe is true about themselves.
Because people don’t consistently act according to what they want. They consistently act according to who they believe they are.
In other words, our identity drives our behavior.
Identity is simply the collection of beliefs we hold about who we are. Often these beliefs were formed years ago through childhood experiences, relationships, cultural messages, and significant life events. Some of these beliefs support our goals. Others quietly work against them.
Someone who subconsciously believes they are not worthy may continually sabotage healthy relationships. Someone who believes they are not capable may avoid opportunities they are fully qualified for. Someone who wants to lose weight may unknowingly hold a subconscious belief that their weight is somehow protecting them.
These beliefs often operate beneath conscious awareness, influencing our choices without us realizing it. This is one of the reasons identity work is built into almost every session I do with clients.
When I wanted to stop eating sugar, I approached it the way many people do. I focused on what I was trying to do. I told myself I was on a diet. I told myself I shouldn’t eat sugar.
It required constant effort.
What ultimately changed things wasn’t focusing on the behavior. It was focusing on my identity.
Instead of thinking, I’m trying not to eat sugar, I began thinking of myself as a person who doesn’t eat sugar.
That subtle shift changed everything.
For nearly a year, avoiding sugar felt surprisingly natural. My blood glucose dropped from 100 to 83. I lost weight, reduced inflammation, and had more energy.
Today, I occasionally choose to eat sugar, but my relationship with it is completely different than it used to be. I’m no longer someone who feels controlled by cravings or who eats sugar mindlessly. Instead, I make conscious choices based on what I want for my health and my life.
The important lesson wasn’t about sugar. It was about identity.
At first, I believed I was someone trying to avoid sugar. Later, I believed I was someone who simply didn’t eat sugar. Those two identities produced very different results.
This is where many people get stuck. They focus on changing what they do without changing what they believe is true about themselves.
But when your subconscious identity is aligned with your goals, your actions begin to feel more natural. You stop relying on willpower alone. You stop fighting yourself. You begin acting in ways that are consistent with the person you believe yourself to be.
So if you’re struggling to reach a goal, I want to invite you to ask yourself a different question.
Instead of asking, “What do I need to do?”
Ask, “What would I have to believe is true about myself in order to naturally create this result?”
And then ask, “What do I currently believe is true about myself that may be making this result difficult?”
The answers to these questions can be incredibly revealing.
Often, the thing standing between us and the life we want isn’t a lack of motivation, discipline, or desire. It’s a subconscious belief about who we are.
And when that belief changes, everything else can begin to change as well.
As a Certified Medical Support Clinical Hypnotherapist, I will help you identify and update the subconscious beliefs that influence your behavior, emotions, and decision-making. Whether you’re working toward better health, stronger relationships, greater confidence, or professional success, lasting change often begins with changing what you believe is true about yourself.
If you’d like help uncovering the subconscious beliefs that may be keeping you stuck, I invite you to schedule a complimentary consultation call.
Together, we’ll explore your goals, identify potential subconscious roadblocks, and discuss how hypnotherapy can help you create lasting change from the inside out.
