No°07 • Aug 29, 2025
Why you really aren’t who you think you are.
When you introduce yourself to new people, you probably tell them your beliefs. At some point, conversation will turn to your principles.
You know what never comes up? Your habits. The ones you don’t like to think of.
How you binge every new series you find interesting.
How you can’t stop eating, even if you wanted to.
How you are never able to get yourself out of bed on time.
These are the things you don’t tell people.
Why? Because 99% of the time, they are things you aren’t super proud of.
Words Don’t Weigh Anything
Someone can learn a lot more about a person through their habits than their beliefs.
You can believe anything.
It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not.
I can believe Santa Claus is real.
He’s not, but that doesn’t matter.
Habits, on the other hand, are directly connected to your character and personality.
The only way you can change them is by changing who you are.
Words are cheap. They are easy to say.
You can lie. You can twist truth.
A habit shows the real you: the good and bad.
Good habits show your strengths, bad habits show your weaknesses.
Habits Are the Real Beliefs
Habits are hard to change. You have to cut bits of you out and replace them with better things.
This can be both a good and bad thing.
If you create a good habit, you don’t necessarily want that to change, unless you can replace it with something better.
On the other hand, if it’s a bad habit, you’ll want to change it. It’ll have a negative effect on your life.
This is why habits model a person’s character better than beliefs.
You can see someone is a good person if they have good habits.
They’ve gone through the struggle of breaking down their bad habits and replacing them with better things.
In a sense, habits show what you actually believe, deep down inside. If you don’t believe in being a virtuous person, you won’t create virtuous habits and remove non-virtuous ones.
Repetition Shapes Identity
A habit is a repeated action that has been done so many times that it’s second nature.
It’s repetition.
Instead of discovering flaws in your beliefs, you should find the flaws in your habits.
And then, you break the bad ones.
Instead of remaining in the same negative loop, break the chain and replace it with other things.
Instead of binging Youtube, go to the gym.
Instead of pressing snooze 10 times, journal.
Instead of stumbling through your day, plan it out beforehand.
Repeat something enough, it becomes a habit. You’ve changed who you are.
Create enough good habits, you’re a completely different person.
Stop asking what you believe.
Look at your habits.
They describe how you actually are. Doesn’t matter if you like it or not.
That’s the truth.
See you in the next one.
-Luke
