What would batman do? Artist unknown.
Throughout my late twenties and into my early thirties, I’ve been working on stripping away cultural programming that isn’t serving me. I’ve fought against “shoulds,” against doing things simply to meet others expectations (or worse, what I think others’ expectations of me might be but that might not actually exist). In short, caring less about what other people think, and digging into myself to get at the core of what I want and think is the right thing to do. Deconstructing the demands of imposed identities, like the cultural expectations of what wives should do for their husbands, how women should act in public, what obligations I hold to be a “good neighbor.”
And for harmful identities, especially sexist or classist identities, stripping away those self-expectations is good.
But I’ve been thinking that we can also make use of helpful identities to change ourselves positively.
Like those bumper stickers, what would Batman do?
Except, focused on broader identities rather than a role model ;)
James Clear convinced me in Atomic Habits that aligning our identities with our desired habits can help us change our behavior, taking advantage of cognitive dissonance. He suggested that we can shift our identities by reinforcing them every time we take an action that supports that identity.
I wonder if I could also borrow from my conception of a helpful archetypal identity — an athlete — by purposefully asking myself, what would an athlete do? I can build my exercise — and other supporting — habits intentionally to match my conception of an athlete, further reinforcing the identity I want to form.
Would an athlete hit snooze or get up and go for a run? Go for a run.
Would an athlete skip their workout because they didn’t feel like it? No.
Would an athlete turn back early? Not just because they were tired, but maybe if they were worried about causing or exacerbating an injury.
Used with kindness, and thoughtfully, I think we can use aspirational identities as another decision-making tool to reinforce the behavior we want ourselves to follow. We can shape ourselves into the identities of our choosing.
What identity would serve you?
