I witnessed one of the most fascinating miracles on earth this week.

We found a caterpillar on a milkweed plant and recognized it as one that would soon transform into a Monarch butterfly.

We kept it in a little bug catcher cage and fed it the milkweed leaves before he hung at the top of the container to begin the transformation process.

It was only seven days later that we had a butterfly drying his newly formed wings in the bug cage.

We let him go in our yard and watched him flutter away on the first flight of his life.

He was on his way to Mexico, where all living Monarch butterflies congregate in Northern America each year.

When a client consults me for life modification coaching, my goal is not to teach some useful self-mastery skills.

My goal is to transform my client’s identity.

If you try to remain the same, and simply work harder to bring about rapid change, you will have a small degree of success based on pure effort.

If a caterpillar was to set off for Mexico (from the Chicago area where I live) he would never make it there in time for the Monarch gathering.

The caterpillar transforms his identity to be able to fly across the country.

If you want to live a life that is partly fueled by the joy of pursuing and accomplishing incredible feats, consider changing your identity.

Start now by thinking of yourself as someone who thrives on creation.

What I mean is that you take on the mentality of someone who enjoys power and the ability to create what you want in your own life or in the lives of others.

This kind of change is about transforming the metaphor you use to think of yourself.

Change the metaphor by which you process your life events, and you will change your experience of those life events.

Your experience changes because you filter your life experiences through a different lens as life unfolds.

You have probably heard someone say, “Every problem has an opportunity buried within it.”

That kind of thinking sounds like nonsense fluff to someone who has not made the transformation to a person who seeks out power.

Conversely, it makes perfect sense to someone who embraces every opportunity to create goodness out of thin air.

Try on this metaphor, “I am a conduit of energy.  Regardless of the positive or negative form of the energy that strikes me, I will bend it to my will.”

Think of yourself that way and your will become a more powerful human being.  You will become a lightening rod with the ability to channel your energy.

Working hard is great, but transforming your identity opens the door for miracles.

-Dr. Todd Snyder