Thoughts of a Designer #17: Beyond Positive Thinking - Identity Is Enforced by Repetition, Not Intention

Two years ago, I wrote about the power of positive thinking and vibrational frequency (Thoughts of a Designer #8:Transform Your Reality Through Positive Thinking & Feeling - Embrace Your Power to Elevate). I believed, and still do, that how we think shapes what we experience. But I missed something important.

Positive thinking doesn't create reality. It initiates movement toward it.

What determines your reality is not just what you consciously affirm, it’s who you unconsciously are.

The Realization

I practiced positive thinking for years. I corrected negative thoughts as they arose, swatting them away like flies. I maintained discipline to only allow my thoughts to serve my highest good. Don't get me wrong, it has gotten me very far. But yet… something is still off. I thought like the person I wanted to be. But I didn’t feel like him. After continued learning & reflecting, That’s when I realized:

Positive thinking sparks movement.

But if it isn’t rooted in aligned identity, it becomes a mask.

You can’t build a fulfilling life on a performance.

What Actually Creates Change

The real question isn’t:

“What am I thinking right now?”

It’s:

“What do I quietly believe about myself when no one is watching?”

Because that, the baseline assumption running beneath your awareness, is your true operating system.

You can say “I am abundant” a thousand times.

But if you quietly believe “I’m behind,” “I’m not enough,” "I don't have as much as them" or “I need to prove myself”, the hidden beliefs will win. Every time.

Not because it’s louder. But because it’s repeated.

Identity is enforced by repetition, not intention.

A Truth You Can Feel (A Physical Metaphor)

There’s a clear parallel to this in martial arts / fighting.

You’ll hear people say things like:“I don’t need training. If I see red, it’s over.”

They believe intensity will save them.

They believe emotion will override reality.

But anyone with real training knows the truth:

That person loses almost every time to someone with even basic, disciplined practice.

Why?

Because they aren’t pressure tested.

Their confidence isn’t rooted in truth.

It has never been validated under stress.

In a real confrontation, intention collapses.

Only repetition remains.

Footwork, timing, breath control, structure aren’t thoughts. They are identities built through repetition. Can you move? Do you have timing? Can you control your breath under pressure? Once you know, it happens on it's own. Similar to how it is with tying your shoe. You don't have to think positively about your shoe being tied. It just happens when you decide to do it from years of repetition.

This is why discipline beats desire. Why calm defeats chaos. Why trained presence overrides raw emotion.

As Bruce Lee said:

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

It is about more than fighting. It’s about identity forged through truth, action, and repetition.

Positive thinking without alignment is the same as ego without proven consistency. It sounds convincing until reality applies pressure.

The Work I’m Doing Now

This year, I’ve taken time to examine my identity at the core.

Not just who I want to be. Not who I think I should be at this point. But who I actually am when performance, fear, and borrowed beliefs fall away.

I’ve asked myself:

What do I believe about myself that I never question? Are these beliefs true?

Are they mine or inherited? Do they serve the life I’m building?

This isn’t positive thinking.

This is identity alignment.

What I Know Now

Life doesn’t happen to you. Life happens for your evolution.

I still believe that.

But evolution requires more than optimism.

It requires honest self-examination and deliberate intentional construction of who you are becoming.

And if you don't know who that is...that's ok. Stay Present. Stay Open. Follow your highest excitements of the day. Take them as far as you can, for as long as you can with no expectations of the outcome. That will align you in the direction that you need to be.

Positive thinking opens the door. Identity alignment walks through it.

You cannot think your way into a new identity. You must become it through repetition and then the thoughts, actions, and outcomes follow naturally.

That’s the difference between:

Forcing positivity → Embodying peace

Affirming success → Being someone for whom success is inevitable

Wanting sovereignty → Operating as sovereign

Closing

So if you’re where I was, practicing positivity but feeling misaligned, go deeper.

Ask yourself:

“Who am I when I’m not performing?”

The answer may be uncomfortable. But it will be true.

And truth is the only foundation strong enough to build on.

Find your alignment.

Because sovereignty doesn’t begin in thought.

It begins in who you repeatedly train yourself to be.

If this article has helped you in anyway, please feel free to contact me gueston@guesscreative.com. I would love to hear your thoughts.