The biggest thing that people fail to realize when someone accomplishes a big goal is that their entire identity has changed as well. For example…

Let’s say that Jim, a dentist, finally accomplishes his goal of becoming a millionaire. He set the goal ten years ago, and today is the day that he finally checked his bank account and it said “one million dollars.”

Most people make the assumption that Jim is exactly the same person as he was ten years ago. With, of course, the exception that he now has a million dollars more in his bank account. But Jim isn’t the same person. Not even close! You see…

Jim had to learn a lot of disciplines to reach his million dollar goal.

He first had to learn to save up a portion of his income. It took a lot of effort on his part to get into the habit of not spending all of his money. He also had to learn to pay all of his bills in a timely manner so he wouldn’t have any debt. Today, he has a completely different outlook on money. When he first started, $5,000 was a lot of money to him! After all, when you have nothing, $5,000 is a large sum of money isn’t it? But to Jim, not anymore…

Now that he is a millionaire, $5,000 means nothing to him. It’s less than 1% of his total income. He could walk on the street and hand someone $1,000 and it would feel like a dollar to him.

You don’t realize it, but reaching a big goal that you have set will completely change your identity in so many different ways. You won’t have the same thoughts or the same behaviors as you did before. Even if he gave all of his money away, Jim would likely be able to become a millionaire again if he wanted to because he knows how to do it. He knows what it feels like to become a millionaire. He’s had the experience and he knows what actions to take.

If Jim did give all of his money away, it would probably take him much less than ten years to become a millionaire again. He could avoid all of the pitfalls that he experienced when he did it the first time. And he would spend more time doing the things that actually helped him become a millionaire and do less of the things that didn’t really matter.

Changing YOUR Identity

So, how can we change our identity in order to help us achieve our big goals?

I always like to give an example of becoming a millionaire. You probably get excited by the thought of becoming a millionaire, and it’s something easy to count. So…

Imagine your story is similar to Jim’s. You want to become a millionaire within the next ten years. However, let’s assume that you are five years into the future and you are exactly half way to your goal. You have about $500,000 to your name and well on your way to becoming a millionaire. Now, answer these questions…

What’s changed? Besides the money, how are you a different person now than you were before?

Now, I realize that these are probably difficult questions for you to answer. So, I’ll try to help you out a little in your thinking. First, Steve Pavlina’s Podcast #18 gives two excellent examples of how your identity may change…

First, if you currently had $500,000, you would probably have no problem carrying more money in your wallet. Let’s say that right now you usually carry around $50-100 in cash. Do you really think you would have that little amount of money in your wallet if you had $500,000 in the bank? I don’t think so. Chances are, you would probably be carrying around $200, $300, or even more in your wallet.

So that’s one thing that would change. So start doing that today. Start carrying around more money in your wallet than whatever you did before. By doing this simple change, it makes you feel a little more like you actually do have $500,000 in the bank.

Another example happens the next time that you receive a check. Let’s say that you get a check in the mail for $400. Now, right now you may be thinking, “Wow, $400 is a nice chunk of change.” However, if you had $500,000 in the bank, this check would seem like nothing to you. This is how you should feel when you receive a $400 check. Don’t get overexcited because if you want to become a millionaire, you are going to have to look for opportunities that will help you receive checks that are worth far more than $400!

My Personal Experience

Let me give you my own personal experience so I can hammer this point home even further.

My passion has always been, and will always be writing. I realized this ever since my 4^th grade teacher encouraged me to never stop writing because I had a gift for it.

It wasn’t until later in my life where I had a realistic dream of becoming a millionaire. Well, I had the fortune of actually seeing in person what a million dollars in cash actually looks like. I was staying at Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas and in the walkway between Bally’s and Paris there is a glass box that has one million dollars in cash.

It was at that moment that I realized that the things I was currently doing to become a millionaire simply weren’t good enough. I could tell that the action steps I was taking would never give me the opportunity to make that large amount of money. So what did I do?…

I knew I had to change what I was currently doing. So I sat down and imagined what it would take to become a millionaire writer. How would someone who makes a million dollars blogging go about his day? How would he walk, talk, and act? I tried to imagine me becoming this person in my eyes…

I decided that it would take three things. First, I would have to have an extraordinary amount of knowledge and passion for whatever I was writing about. Next, I realized that I would have to start writing a lot more frequently than whatever I was currently doing. And finally, the biggest thing I realized is that I would have to write in a way that would attract millions of people if I was ever to accumulate that much money.

Shortly after, I realized that my true passion was personal development. Ever since that day, I have read on average of at least one book on personal development or finance per week.

Now, I try to write in a way that will benefit anyone who reads it. Because I want this site to attract millions of people, I try to make this site a little better each and every day. I realize that the better I make the site, the more people it will attract. And if I want the site to have millions of visitors, the site is going to have to be pretty phenomenal!

So I changed my identity by thinking of how a million dollar blogger goes about his day. I try to become that person in my eyes. I know it’s going to take time, so I don’t get too high or too low about the sites current traffic or earnings. Instead, I look at the big picture and what it will take in the long run to reach my goals.

Final Thoughts

Changing your identity can greatly affect your earning power. You have to imagine what it would be like. And start becoming the person that has already reached your biggest goal.

By doing this, it will help shift your mindset and help you start thinking of ways that will help you reach your goal faster.

Understand again that you are not going to be the same person when you reach your goal. The journey and the sacrifices that you are going to make are going to have a great effect on you. Jim Rohn says it best when he says…

“Make a goal to become a millionaire, not for the money, but for what it will make of you to achieve it.”

You will be a different person. A better person. There will be so many different unique qualities about yourself when you complete your journey. But don’t wait that long to see those changes unfold. Start imagining what those things are and apply them in your life today.

You may have heard the saying, “fake it ’till you make it.” This is what I am suggesting that you do. Fake it by becoming the millionaire, or whatever goal you may have, in your eyes. Do this until one day you don’t have to fake it anymore. It will actually become part of your reality!

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