I was inspired to write this after watching Stanford dominate USC in college football this past Saturday.

Stanford completely manhandled the USC Trojans even though they were unranked and USC was ranked 9th in the nation.

To give some more background information on this game to see why it’s such a big deal, USC was king of the Pac-10 the past 7 years. This year, they lost big to two teams in the Pac 10 – Oregon and Stanford.

Both those teams had great strong identities.

Oregon’s identity consists of a fast, no huddle, spread option offense.

Stanford is your tough as nails, smash mouth, power I formation, run the ball down the opposing team’s throat type football team.

Both teams stayed true to their identities and that proved to be the key to defeating USC.

Oregon torched USC’s defense with their blazing speed and spread option offense and Stanford ran the ball right down the Trojan’s throats.

Here’s what powerful about the idea of having a strong identity.

IT NARROWS down a team’s strengths and gives them FOCUS to become the best they can be at it.

When you have a definite, central identity, it’s easy to spend a lot of time at getting good at it and what I mean by that is improving yourself to LIVE UP TO THAT IDENTITY.

It’s easy to be aggressive when you’re clear minded, not when you’re confused.

Having an identity does that for you.

It lets you be aggressive at getting better at BEING that identity.

Then, people see that and they want to become a part of it so the team begins to recruit players that fit in harmony with the team’s identity, making it even stronger before thereby snowballing the effect.

And here’s where the quantum leap hits.

The actions of the people on that team become congruent to the identity of the team.

You go from doing to BEING.

When you ARE something, it’s easy to DO.

It’s been said that Stanford trains so physically hard during practice that they run a great risk of having their players injured. But the coach knows that and still does it because that’s their identity.

Because the coach has put that identity on the team, it obviously took a while for the team to embrace it, but once they did, they don’t have to force it.

They ARE that type of team – that type of team that will just physically manhandle the other team and play good old fashioned, power I formation, smash mouth, run the ball down your throat football.

Now realize there’s no right or wrong identity.

Just your own.

Oregon’s identity of being a blazing fast, no huddle, spread option offense is no better or any worse than Stanford’s identity of a good old fashioned ,power I formation, smash mouth, run the ball down your throat type offense.

Each serves the team well and each works hard at reinforcing that identity and finding similar people who identify with that team to solidify it as well.

This is the wisdom behind “Know thyself”.

Find your identity, built it, and it will attract the people who are congruent with that identity, which all comes together to help you BE that identity and DO what the identity is all about.

For example, if you habitually exercise and/or lift weight’s you probably see yourself as a person who’s disciplined, strong willed, and always want to improve, and you probably meet other people in the gym while you train who are of the same nature.

They become your friends and as iron sharpens iron, that identity of being disciplined, strong willed, always wanting to improve begins to carry over into other areas of your life.

It can’t help but happen.

Why?

It’s a part of you now.

And when you get to that point, things become easy.

Don’t deviate from that identity because that will get you nowhere.

When Stanford started the game, they came out passing when their identity was smash mouth running. That proved to be fruitless as they went 3 and out and USC got the ball.

When Stanford got the ball back, they went back to their identity of a smash mouth run the ball down your throat offense.

And they never looked back.

55-21.

The most points EVER scored against the Trojans at home.

That’s the power of identity when you find it and work hard at becoming it and you STICK to it.

It brings new meaning to the advice we hear of not trying to pretend to be someone you’re not.

If Stanford tried to be like Oregon that game, they would’ve lost. No doubt about it.

They stuck to the identity they built over the past 2 years and that proved to be the factor that helped them dominate the Trojans.

So this begs the question.

How do you create your identity?

Well the way I see it, there are two ways.

One is you look within and you have that instinctual feeling of who you are and what you’re all about.

This doesn’t apply to all people. I have a feeling only a very few people are able to do this, who genuinely “know” themselves, who they are, and what they’re all about.

If you are that type of person, STICK to that identity. Work hard at becoming it. Do the things congruent to that identity and you will start to BE and attract people who are of similar nature to help you reinforce that identity.

For those not so fortunate, have no worries, because you can CREATE your identity.

Think of the type of person you want to be and realize you can change your identity. It usually happens when you’re in a rut and lost, but that’s one of the best times to create a new identity because you start fresh from scratch.

Realize the key to creating identity is realizing how important it is to consciously choose what kind of decisions you will make based on the fact that those decisions will reflect on your identity. Will those decisions build or destroy the identity you’re trying to build?

You have to be aware every single time, at least in the beginning stages.

That will reinforce your new identity until it become second nature.

For example, if you want your new identity to be one of a person who is self disciplined and you tell yourself you’re going to do 30 minutes of cardio, do 30 minutes of cardio.

Hell do 5 more minutes just to make an even bigger impressions on your mind that you mean business.

Things of that nature will help you solidify your identity and bring people into your life that will reinforce it and help you succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

Find your identity.

Work hard at becoming it.

BE it.

People will see it who are of similar identities and come to you.

And together, you will succeed in the endeavors you’re reaching for.