Nicolas Cole argues that if your current actions already made you who you want to be, you'd already be that person. The gap means you need to change what you do. He recommends a "live as if" approach: act today like you already are your future self, and keep it up until the new identity sticks.
I think one of the biggest lessons I learned in 2025 is that who you want to be requires you to act differently than who you are. Because think about it. If your current actions and the way you live your life led to your desired way of being, then you would be that person already. It wouldn't even be a goal. That's just who you would be. But you're not. Which means, in order to become that person, in order to become the next version of yourself, you literally have to act differently. As in, you have to take different actions in your life. You have to build different habits. You have to think different thoughts. You have to make different choices. You essentially have to live as if you were already living that version of yourself today. And if you do that for enough days in a row, then eventually you will be that person.
What Every Writer Gets Wrong About Their Audience #writing #creator #writingtips
