habits provide evidence for our identity when we begin to doubt it
#idea for personal growth from atomic-habits. Because habits-are-identity-not-willpower, whenever times get hard and sticking to our mission is difficult, or we get blurry on who we are, we can pull meaning from the time we've put into habits to remind us.
If you have been putting in effort to communicate with loved ones, you are a communicator, even if you feel like a fraud today. If you've been sticking to writing a line of code a day, or lifting one weight, you are a coder; you are someone who exercises.
From the book:
The effect of one-off experiences tends to fade away while the effect of habits gets reinforced with time, which means your habits contribute most of the evidence that shapes your identity.