Kickstart Your Portfolio Career: Part 1 of 5
Habit Formation & Identity Work
Welcome to the first installment of a five-part miniseries, 'Kickstart Your Portfolio Career.' This August, I am hosting a Free Workshop where I will dive deeper into each tip and what it actually takes to launch your portfolio career while maintaining your day job.
You might be asking, "I want to launch my side business or passion project, but I don’t have the time."
I had this same question in 2019 when I started exploring my side hustle. I was curious to understand how people constrained by similar circumstances managed to reimagine their lives and launch successful portfolio careers. After many failed attempts to use sheer willpower and motivation, I realised I needed a new plan.
This led me to explore behaviour change and learn about habit formation. I used to think it was about having willpower and would be filled with shame when I couldn’t sustain my motivation – but I soon learned it’s about core identity work and showing up as a new version of yourself.
The 3 Layers of Behaviour Change: Inside Out, Not Outside In
Like millions of others in 2019, I bought the book Atomic Habits by James Clear and quickly became obsessed with how he explained the link between habits and identity.
The three layers of habit change are:
Changing Your Outcomes: This level is concerned with changing your results, like getting abs or publishing a weekly newsletter.
Changing Your Process: This level focuses on changing your habits and systems, such as implementing a new routine at the gym or decluttering your desk for better workflow.
Changing Your Identity: This deepest layer is about changing your beliefs, worldview, self-image, and judgments. Most beliefs, assumptions, and biases are associated with this level.
Fig 1.1 Three Layers Of Behaviour Change
“Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe.” – James Clear
Reflecting on this framework, I mapped out my long-term vision for my portfolio career and the various interests I wanted to monetise. Out of the five things I listed, I needed to upskill significantly in two areas: angel investing and growing an online platform.
I decided I was going to be the person who:
Launches a newsletter talking about going ‘two feet into life’ (early subscribers might remember this was the original name of my website & newsletter!).
Gets up at 5 am every day to do 30 minutes of learning, 30 minutes of writing, and 30 minutes of self-care.
Invests in my skillset and my future. I enrolled in an angel investing course.
As I took micro-actions each day (middle layer of habit change), I started to believe I was a person who invested in herself by waking up early and filling my own cup before starting my day job (core identity change). This led to getting noticed in the angel investing space and being asked to be on panels. Within a year, I invested in three companies, launched my newsletter, and started to receive great feedback, which helped with my consistency & reinforced my new identity (outer layer of habit change).
Final Thoughts
When it comes to building habits, it’s not that one level is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than another – all levels of change are useful in their own way. We tend to run up against issues when we are trying to sustain a pure Outcome Based Change that is absent from the Identity Work. For example, if I was focused on trying to write a weekly newsletter without attaching it to the belief that it was for a bigger purpose of moving into a Portfolio Career & connecting with my audience - it is likely I would’ve given up shortly after starting.
We all have the power to change our beliefs and become the person we want to be. Our identity is not set in stone. With every decision we make, we can move closer to or further away from the person we want to become.
Habits can help you achieve these things, but fundamentally, they are about becoming someone, not just having something. For successful transformational change, focus on the type of person you want to be, rather than just the tangible outcomes you want to achieve.
Additional Resources
[book] Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything - B.J. Fogg
[book] Mindset - Carol Dweck
[podcast] Unlocking Us & Dare To Lead: Brene Brown
[podcast] The One You Feed: Eric Zimmer
[person] Maria Popova: Brainpickings
[person] Amy Purdy: Living beyond limits Ted Talk
Exercise:
New identities require new evidence. If you keep saying you want to implement that morning routine to give yourself the space to think but you sleep in instead, you will always get the same results. If nothing changes, nothing changes.
Try this:
Start by writing down the type of person you want to be. Begin with one change at a time; if you try to go all in, you’re likely to feel overwhelmed and quit.
Start proving you can change yourself with small wins.
Reflect on your micro-changes every week, no matter how tiny the change.
can’t wait to read the other four parts, this is looking very promising already 😍