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The Habit & Identity Framework.

The three layers of lasting change.

Most people don't fail because they're weak. They fail because nobody gave them a system. Willpower depletes. A system doesn't.

Download the PDF One page. Free.

01 The three layers

One layer at a time.

Each layer builds on the last. Don't skip ahead. Don't overwhelm.

01

Audit Your Environment

Week 1

Change your surroundings first. Willpower depletes. Your environment doesn't.

Your environment shapes behaviour in ways willpower cannot. Change the environment first, then build the habits.

  • Walk your home. Name what you reach for when you're stressed, bored, or tired.

  • Trigger foods: once it's eaten, it's gone. It does not go back in the fridge.

  • No phone the first 60 to 90 minutes after waking.

  • Write down what you find. That list becomes the plan.


02

Build If-Then Plans

Weeks 2 to 3

One plan per challenge, and you choose it. Ownership beats willpower.

When you choose the plan yourself, you are more likely to follow it than when someone hands it to you.

  • Build the plan around your real life, not someone else's rules.

  • Use the format: when X happens, I do Y.

  • Track your wins and your misses each week.

  • You built it. You own it. That's the difference.


03

Replace the Behaviour

Weeks 3 to 4

Don't just stop. Replace the trigger with something that actually serves you.

Every trigger needs a replacement. Not just stopping. Something that serves you, in its place.

  • Water and a 20-minute wait before you snack. The urge often passes.

  • Move your body instead of numbing.

  • Two-minute rule: just start. Momentum does the rest.

  • Journal the why behind the urge.

02 Identity over willpower

Every small win is a vote.

Identity statement exercise

An example, written in the first person

I am a man who faces hard things instead of numbing them.

Write one sentence: who you are becoming. Not who you were. Starting now. Revisit it at weeks one, five, and nine, and watch the language shift from I want to be to I am. As James Clear puts it, every small win is a vote for the person you are becoming. The majority rules.

One question

When you feel the urge, what could you do instead that you would actually enjoy? Your answer becomes the plan. You built it. You own it.

Five principles

  • Don't overwhelm. One layer at a time.

  • Buy-in wins. You choose the plan.

  • Start tiny. Scale every habit down to two minutes.

  • Identity over willpower. Saying I don't beats saying I can't.

  • Layer it. Environment, then plans, then replacements, then identity.

Grounded in the research: James Clear's book Atomic Habits (the identity and votes framing). Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006, implementation intentions (94 independent tests). Deci and Ryan, Self-Determination Theory; Ng et al., 2012. Lally et al., 2010 (a median of 66 days, and anywhere from 18 to 254). Patrick and Hagtvedt, 2012 ("I don't" versus "I can't").

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Tyson DesMarais at a stone bridge, looking straight at the camera

Forged. Not Fixed.

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