Make use of diversification and framing to build a sustainable identity.
Diversify your identity. [1] Have many things that make up who you are. Don’t just be an academic, be an academic who is engaged in sports. If one identity is questioned, you will have other ones mentally holding you up.
Furthermore, frame your identity in a way that enables you to detach from it. Don’t say “I am an academic”, say “I am someone who is engaged in academics”. Your work, or even your actions in general, are something you do, not who you innately are. [2] Phrasing it this way (i.e., detaching yourself from it) can make it easier to dismantle a bad habit or better yourself within any field.
Diversify, detach and observe rationally, and act accordingly.
1. Mark Manson, Diversify Your Identity (12/03/2021)
2. Kleon, Austin. Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered (p. 80). Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.