Five-Day Challenge to Step into Your New Identity

In this episode, Lori introduces a five-day master class and challenge designed to help you master your mindset by stepping into a new identity. 

This episode is inspired by method acting, the challenge outlines a daily process for assuming a new role in life. Day one focuses on priming the mind upon waking. Day two centers on staying in character throughout the day. Day three emphasizes intensifying sensory experiences and emotions. Day four tackles controlling inner dialogue and eliminating limiting beliefs. Day five involves mentally rewriting the day before sleep to reinforce the new identity. 

Episode Highlights

• Introduction to the 5-Day Mindset Mastery Challenge
• Day 1: Priming Your Mind
• Day 2: Staying in Character
• Day 3: Intensifying Your Reality
• Day 4: Controlling Your Inner Dialogue
• Day 5: Rewriting Your Day Before Sleep

If you’re ready to break free from old habits and step into the best version of yourself, this five-day challenge is for you. By immersing yourself in a new identity, you'll rewire your mindset, overcome limiting beliefs, and create lasting transformation in how you think, feel, and show up in the world.

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Thank you for sharing your time with me and remember to show up in your life like the masterpiece you are because YOU are the ARTwork!!!

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Transcript

Lori Gouhin: [00:00:00] that is not who I am anymore. This creates a psychological, distance between you and your past identity. And it makes it easier to detach from that limiting thought. So throughout the day, check in with yourself. 

Lori Gouhin: Hello, my friends. I am so glad that you are here with me today because today I want to give you both a master class and I'd say a five day challenge on mastering your mindset. And I've definitely talked a lot about this on the show [00:01:00] before, but today I think I'm going to try and tie it all together with this five step in five day process that will really make it clear and simple.

Lori Gouhin: Not necessarily easy, but simple to implement. And so we're just a few days away from spring when this episode will air. And many actually believe that spring is the true season of transformation. Because it's a time when the natural world around us, nature itself, shifts, right? It takes on a whole new identity from what it was in winter and fall and summer.

Lori Gouhin: And so why shouldn't we do the same? And in my last episode, I had on a guest if you haven't listened, it's a great episode actress Shani Pride. And it really got me thinking about acting and specifically method actors. Not that she's a method actor, but because method actors, they don't just pretend to be a character.

Lori Gouhin: They actually become it. And then that got me thinking, what if we applied that same concept to [00:02:00] identity shifting? thinking differently and not just setting intentions, but stepping into the role of our new identity fully, completely without breaking character for five straight days. So I want to walk you through a five day mental mastery challenge, if you will, designed to help you embody your next level of self.

Lori Gouhin: Not someday, but now. And now an important thing to remember and to realize right from the start is that this will require a full commitment on your part. And if you break character, you have to start over. But if you stick with it, it will literally change everything. I promise. Okay, so day one. That starts with priming your mind before you get out of bed.

Lori Gouhin: Who you are in the first 15 minutes of your day can really determine the trajectory of everything that follows that day. And most people, [00:03:00] they do wake up reactively. Check their phone, they start thinking of their to do list, and then they immediately begin to repeat familiar patterns of what they do every day when they wake up.

Lori Gouhin: But in this challenge, we're not going to do that. The first 15 minutes of your day will be sacred for the first 15 minutes after you wake up. You're going to lie in bed with your eyes closed and you're going to imagine yourself as the person you want to be. Not in the future and not hoping to become them, but already being them right now.

Lori Gouhin: And to do this correctly again, you need to keep your eyes closed. Don't let the outside world in, not just yet, because the brain is very suggestible in the moments right before you wake up. And this is why what you focus on during this time can have such a profound impact on your day.

Lori Gouhin: And if you wake up [00:04:00] immediately stressing about the day ahead, your nervous system activates. And then your body will fall into old patterns. But if you intentionally start the day, by just embodying that person that you want to be, your subconscious mind, will start to align with that reality. So before you even open your eyes, step into the identity as if it's already real.

Lori Gouhin: And ask yourself questions like these. Who am I waking up As today, what emotions do I feel as this person? What's the first thought that crosses my mind in this reality? And Assume it as if you are already this person. feel the emotions of this version of you. Not I will be that, but I am that I am.

Lori Gouhin: The mind accepts identity shifts faster. when they are also experienced through your multiple senses. So, As you lie in bed, to deepen this [00:05:00] experience, you want to add sensory things, sensory details to your visualization. How does your body feel? Is this version of you? Does it feel confident? Does it feel energized?

Lori Gouhin: Does it feel peaceful? What's the atmosphere of your morning? Is there sun shining in the window? Do you smell coffee brewing? you hear any sounds? Maybe birds chirping? I don't know. Maybe you're in the city, you hear cars outside. What's your posture like when you get out of bed? Do you move with purpose and ease and with certainty and does your body feel good?

Lori Gouhin: Are you enthusiastic? This process will condition your subconscious mind to eliminate resistance because when you stop trying to be something, and you just be it, the inner struggle, it'll kind of disappear. It also helps your new behavior to come more automatic. When you begin the day from this new state, your choices and your actions and your interactions, they naturally shift.

All right. So the first [00:06:00] rule of day one is simple. Do not get out of bed until you feel different. Stay in bed and imagine. Imagine again until you've locked in your new identity. now let's move on to day number two. On day two, you are going to start the same way as day number one. So it's compounding.

Lori Gouhin: You're going to remain in your bed with your eyes closed until you've assumed your new identity. But then on day two, you're going to stay in character all day. You're going to decide who you are in the morning and you are going to refuse to step out of character out of that role, no matter what happens.

Lori Gouhin: So day one, you're setting the mental stage. Really, you woke up and you stepped into that identity of the person you wanted to be, but we know what happens, right? When reality starts to creep in and when your current circumstances your old doubts and your, Perceptions and other people's reactions, all the things, right?

Lori Gouhin: It starts to pull you back into your old [00:07:00] self. And that's what today is about. Staying in character. So your job is to remain the new version of you for the entire day. And again, if it's helpful, think of it like method acting. You are no longer trying to be this version of yourself. You're just them. So every action, every interaction must align with the identity if you truly were this person. How would you move through the world? How would you respond to stress? How would you interact with others?

Lori Gouhin: How would you handle decisions? How would you handle money? How would you carry yourself? What would your posture, your tone, your body language, what would all of that be like? And I'd suggest that to help you, you can set reminders on your phone that say, Stay in character. That's simply it. Stay in character.

Lori Gouhin: And you might also want to adjust your environment to match your new identity. So things maybe like cleaning up your space or changing your workspace if you work from [00:08:00] home. Your schedule, schedule things differently, whatever that would mean for you because if you slip back into your old self It's just going to be that much harder and you have to reset.

Lori Gouhin: So ask what would my new self do in this situation? I want you to speak, think and act only as your new identity if your mind drifts to old patterns again Just correct it immediately And this, what this does is it helps reprogram your brain through repetition because your subconscious mind learns by consistency and when you act as if you are already the person you want to be, your brain will accept it as truth.

Lori Gouhin: It also helps to eliminate self sabotage, I would say because most people switch back and forth between their old and their new selves today you just don't do that. The rules for day two. Are repeating day one and no breaking character. If something happens that would normally trigger you or your old self, just ask, how [00:09:00] would the version of me that already has everything I want respond?

Lori Gouhin: And then respond accordingly. Okay, day three. That's all about saturating your senses and your emotions. In other words, I want you to intensify your reality. Don't just think. from your new identity. You need to feel it, see it, taste it, breathe it, all the things. Because by this point in the challenge, you've been waking up.

Lori Gouhin: It's only day three, but you're waking up two days in a row. You've been stepping into your future self. Yesterday, you tried to stay in character all day long. Hopefully you managed to do that, at least for the majority of the day. But now we're going to take it even further, because if you want your mind to fully accept your new identity as reality, You must saturate another, like just really intensify your emotions and your senses.

Lori Gouhin: Many people will struggle to create this kind of lasting change in their lives because they intellectually understand what they want, but they don't [00:10:00] emotionally or physically experience it. Because it's one thing to think, I want to be successful, but it's another thing. to feel the confidence of success in your body and to see it in your environment and to immerse yourself in the reality of it.

Lori Gouhin: So again, that's what today is all about. Really intensifying all of those things. So ask yourself what do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? What do you taste? What do you touch in this new reality? Bring as much sensory richness to your day as possible. Really immerse yourself in the environment that reflects the new identity.

Lori Gouhin: For example, if you're shifting into a wealthier self, go to places where wealthier people spend time. Maybe expensive stores. If you're becoming an artist, surround yourself with art supplies. Visit galleries. Absorb creative inspiration. If your new self is somebody who's totally fit, [00:11:00] And again, this isn't about pretending.

Lori Gouhin: It's about immersing yourself in a reality so vividly that your brain can't distinguish it from your current reality. So use visualization. But make it visceral. Create emotional anchors by having these things around. Also, you can play music that makes you feel like your new self. Wear clothes that reflect your new identity.

Lori Gouhin: Anything that you need to do to remind you of who you are becoming as you move through your day. You don't want to just think about your new identity. You must feel it in your body. Again, not faking it. It's about triggering that emotional state of your new identity so deeply that it starts to feel natural.

Lori Gouhin: All right, so the rules for day three. Repeat day one. Don't get out of bed until you've assumed your new identity. And number two, you're going to stay in [00:12:00] character all day. And number three, you're going to saturate your senses and your emotions. If you can think it, you must feel it. And if you can feel it, you must embody it because the more vividly you live in alignment with your new self, the faster the reality, your reality, will shift.

Lori Gouhin: Alright, so day four. Day four is about no more arguing for your limitations. You must become the guardian of your own mind. If you don't control your thoughts, your old self will. All right. So up to this point, you've been stepping up into this point. You've been stepping into your new identity every morning, right?

Lori Gouhin: You're carrying that energy throughout the day. You're staying in character and then you're reinforcing it with all the sensory and emotional things around you that you're immersing yourself in. But today we're going to tackle, I'd say the most powerful thing that can undo all of that progress. And that's your inner [00:13:00] dialogue.

Lori Gouhin: And we've talked a lot about that on the show. But right now, your subconscious mind still holds those old self beliefs. It remembers the doubts, the limiting beliefs, the thought patterns that have been on repeat for years. And when you start stepping into this new version of yourself, that old programming, if we're being honest, right?

Lori Gouhin: It's just not going to disappear. It's going to fight to stay alive. You're going to catch yourself thinking. This isn't working. This feels forced. Maybe something like I always fall back into old habits, but that's not reality. That's your old mental script trying to pull you back in. So on day four, you're going to take control of your inner dialogue.

Lori Gouhin: You are no longer allowing old beliefs or excuses or doubts to go unchecked in your mind. Every thought that contradicts your new identity must be recognized and then eliminated immediately. So the moment you catch yourself [00:14:00] thinking an old thought, interrupt it. Interrupt it immediately. Do not entertain it.

Lori Gouhin: Do not analyze it. Do not argue with it. The rule is simple. No more arguing for your limitations. So instead of thinking, I'm not good at sticking to things, you say, I'm the kind of person that follows through. If you're thinking this isn't working, you say things like, things are always working out for me.

Lori Gouhin: Your thoughts, they're not random. They're patterns and patterns can be rewritten, but only if you take control. Instead of letting your mind dictate how you feel, you dictate how your mind operates. You must step into the role of the director, throwing it back to acting, the director of your thoughts.

Lori Gouhin: Speak to yourself with authority. Just say things like, I only entertain thoughts that move me forward, I refuse to argue with my limitations because I [00:15:00] am the version of myself who gets things done. This is my new normal. And if you have to say it out loud, do it! Write it down. Make it undeniable. Because the more you reinforce it, the more your subconscious accepts it as truth.

Lori Gouhin: And I'd say one powerful thing that you can do is to give your old self a name. When you catch yourself slipping into those patterns, you just say to yourself, That's my old me, or whatever the name is that you're going to give your old self. It can be just old me, but whatever it is, that's just the old me trying to take over.

Lori Gouhin: And that is not who I am anymore. This creates a psychological, distance between you and your past identity. And it makes it easier to detach from that limiting thought. So throughout the day, check in with yourself. You can again, set a reminder on your phone that says, what am I thinking?

Lori Gouhin: And if the thought aligns with who you want to be, by all means, definitely keep it. But if it doesn't just redirect [00:16:00] it. And the more often that you do this, the faster your mind adapts and you can reinforce your new identity by standing in front of the mirror and affirming who you are and saying it with conviction.

Lori Gouhin: I'm not going back. This is who I am now. I only think thoughts that support my new identity. There is a lot that can be said about mirror work, and I should probably do a whole episode on it because I personally find it fascinating. So maybe you guys will too. All right. End of day four. The rules for day four are don't get out of bed until you've assumed your new identity.

Lori Gouhin: Two, stay in character all day. Three, saturate all of your sensory and sensory senses and your emotions and stop making a case for why you can't be who you want to be. In other words, no more arguing with your limitations, no more excuses, no more rationalizing the old way of [00:17:00] thinking, no more identifying with the past from.

Lori Gouhin: Day four on every thought must align with the person you are becoming. This is not optional. Again, this is the one I said, like this could undo everything. So it's not optional. It's the foundation really of transformation. All right, now we're up to day five. So on day five, you are going to mentally rewrite your day before you go to sleep.

Lori Gouhin: Most people I would say treat sleep like Definitely a passive event, right? It's a time when your body simply rests and it resets. But what they fail to realize is that the moments before you fall asleep are some of the most powerful moments for shaping your subconscious mind. Because sleep, it's not just a break from life.

Lori Gouhin: It can actually, unless you make it that way, but it can actually be a gateway in a sense to real transformation. Because the thoughts and the emotions and the imagery that you engage with before you go to [00:18:00] sleep, they set the stage for how your mind processes your day and your reality overnight.

Lori Gouhin: Your subconscious is always listening, it's always absorbing, and it's always reinforcing the version of you that you repeatedly affirm. So now we're going to close the loop, right? At the end of every day, moving forward to ensure that your subconscious registers the right things before sleep. It wants to register that version of you, who you're stepping into.

Lori Gouhin: So you're not going to review your day with regret or frustration. You're not going to dwell on what went wrong and reinforce limiting beliefs by thinking, Why did I do that? Or, I always make the same mistakes. Because without realizing it, you're programming your subconscious mind to repeat that same experience tomorrow.

Lori Gouhin: So instead of passively remembering the day's events or instead of remembering them how they happened, [00:19:00] you're going to rewrite them in your mind. You're going to imagine yourself as the version of you who handled every situation with mastery. If there was a moment when you hesitated, just visualize yourself acting with certainty.

Lori Gouhin: If you doubted yourself over something, just replay the scene in your mind, but see yourself moving forward with confidence. If you reacted poorly to a situation or snapped at somebody, just rewrite it in your mind as if you responded with wisdom or perfection. When you mentally rehearse your day as if you showed up as your best self, your mind will also absorb that and that reality.

Lori Gouhin: And it will make it more likely that you will naturally respond that way tomorrow. When you come across situations like that again. But it's not enough to just think about it. You can't just think about this improved version. You have to feel it. Go back to day three. Remember it. Emotion is the glue that really makes [00:20:00] everything stick.

Lori Gouhin: You're mentally revising your day to bring in the emotions that you want to cultivate. If your new identity is really deeply confident, then feel that confidence in your body as you're going to sleep. If your new identity is decisive, Let your body feel what that decisiveness feels like. Let your energy flood your system before you go to sleep.

Lori Gouhin: Because once you've mentally rewritten the events of the day, it'll, it, it just really closes that loop. And, to take it one step more, one step further, you can also give your mind a directive before you go to sleep. It could be something like, Show me opportunities tomorrow that align with my new self.

Lori Gouhin: Or create or reveal creative solutions to the challenges that I'm facing. Or something like, help me wake up to feel fully aligned and ready to take action. Your subconscious, it's so incredible and it will get to work on that. If you give it a job, it will spend the night [00:21:00] working on it. And then you might wake up with sudden insights or fresh ideas.

Lori Gouhin: Or an unexplainable sense of clarity. All because you intentionally shaped your thoughts before you went to bed. All right, so once you've rehearsed your day and you set your intention for tomorrow, just release any tension. You do not need to force anything. Just trust that your subconscious is absorbing and it's integrating everything and then let yourself drift into sleep while holding the feeling of already being the person you want to become.

Lori Gouhin: All right, end of day five. The final rules for day five are don't get out of bed until you've assumed your new identity. Stay in character all day. Saturate your senses and your emotions. Stop making the case for why you cannot be who you want to be. In other words, don't argue with your limitations. And then finally, number five, mentally [00:22:00] rewrite your day before you go to sleep.

Lori Gouhin: Never ever go to sleep reinforcing a version of yourself of who you don't want to be. From now on, only the version of you that exists in your mind before sleep is the one that is thriving and confident and aligned. Alright, so to wrap it up, we have five days and five habits, I guess you could say.

Lori Gouhin: Five ways. to step into a completely different level of thinking, acting, and most importantly, being. But please remember, this isn't just a set of techniques I'm throwing at you, it must become a way of life. You're not practicing this for a few days and then going back to your old patterns. You are becoming this version of yourself.

Lori Gouhin: Most people are going to try to change their circumstances and their habits and their results without [00:23:00] ever becoming the person who naturally creates those results. That's why they struggle. But that's not you anymore. You're deciding differently. You're acting differently. And because of that, your world will reflect that difference back to you.

Lori Gouhin: I promise. Don't wait. Don't wait for things to be easy or feel easy. Just start now. Be the person today that you've been putting off for that someday. And if it feels uncomfortable, perfect. That means you're doing it right and you're on track. That means you're stretching beyond what's familiar to you into something new, something greater.

Lori Gouhin: Remember you are the cause, you are not the effect. And the only thing standing between you and the life that you want is your willingness to stay in character long enough for the world to catch up. So don't break character. Keep going. And I really want you to not only take me up on this challenge, but I want it to become [00:24:00] a way of life for you.

Lori Gouhin: And so to make it easier for you to remember and for you to implement, I created a guide. And the guide goes along with this episode, and it also has reflection questions. You can download it for free on my website, theartworkofyou. com, I'll also put a link for it in the show notes. Because when you do this, and you commit to doing it, at some point you're going to wake up and this won't feel like something you have to do or to practice anymore.

Lori Gouhin: It will just be who you are.