How to Apply the GPS+I Framework to The Person You Need to Become

You’ve probably tried to change your identity before. Maybe through affirmations, maybe through therapy, maybe through sheer willpower. You understand what needs to shift. And yet the shift hasn’t quite happened in the way you hoped.

It’s not you. The problem is often sequence.

Most identity-change approaches jump to solutions before fully understanding the problem. The GPS+I framework changes that by giving you a structured four-week process that takes identity work through its natural phases: Goal, Problem, Solutions, and Integration.

Here’s how to apply it specifically to becoming the person your next level requires.

What Is the GPS+I Framework?

GPS+I stands for Goal, Problem, Solutions, Integration. It’s a monthly coaching cycle designed to address change at every level — not just the surface behavior, but the underlying identity structure driving it.

What makes it different from most frameworks is the explicit Integration phase. This is where the work actually lands. Without it, most changes remain fragile and temporary.

Applied to identity work, it looks like this:

Week One — Goal: Defining the Identity, Not Just the Outcome

Most goal-setting focuses on what you want to achieve. The GPS+I framework asks a prior question: who do you need to be in order to sustain that achievement?

In week one, you clarify the identity your goal requires.

Start by describing what you want — specifically and concretely. Then ask: who is the person who naturally has this? Not what habits do they have, but what do they believe about themselves? What feels obvious to them that currently feels like a stretch to you?

Write out at least three identity statements for this person. These become your target identity — the self-concept you’re working toward.

Example: If your goal is to build a coaching practice at premium rates, the identity statements might be: “I know my rate is fair because I see the transformation clearly.” “I hold my price without apology because I trust my value.” “I attract clients who are ready for this level of investment.”

Week Two — Problem: What Is Actually in the Way?

Week two is where most frameworks skip, and where GPS+I gets specific.

Now that you have a clear target identity, you map the current identity — the one running your defaults right now. This isn’t about listing limiting beliefs. It’s about honestly naming who shows up automatically in the moments that matter.

Before a sales conversation — who shows up? When someone pushes back on your price — who’s there? When an opportunity for visibility arrives — what’s the reflexive response?

This current identity has an origin. In week two, you get curious about it. Not to excavate your entire history, but to understand: where did this way of seeing myself come from? What was it protecting me from? What has it cost me?

This mapping is not self-criticism. It’s diagnosis. A precise, honest look at what’s actually in the way. This is the inner game foundation — you can’t navigate toward a destination if you don’t know your current coordinates.

Week Three — Solutions: Trying the New Identity On

Week three is where you experiment. Not declare the new identity as true, but try it on — in small, real-world moments.

Each day, choose one interaction, one decision, one moment where you respond from the target identity rather than the current one. Keep the experiments small enough to feel doable but real enough to stretch you.

A healer working on “I receive payment with ease” might simply pause before reflexively offering a discount and notice what happens when she doesn’t. An entrepreneur working on “I ask for what I need directly” might send one email that makes a clear request without the usual hedging.

After each experiment, notice: how did it feel to be that version of me? What did I discover? What resistance came up?

This isn’t about performing the new identity. It’s about giving it small real-world experiences to stand on.

Week Four — Integration: Letting the Shift Settle

This is the phase that most transformation approaches skip entirely, and it’s the most important one.

Integration is not consolidation through more effort. It’s consolidation through rest, reflection, and allowing.

In week four, you review what happened during the experiments. You notice which moments felt like genuine contact with the new identity — moments that felt right in a way that surprised you. You note where the old identity reasserted itself, and what that was pointing to.

You also rest from the active pushing of weeks two and three. Integration happens in the spaces between effort. The nervous system needs time to rewire, and rewiring happens as much during sleep and spaciousness as during active practice.

Journaling in week four often reveals shifts that weren’t obvious during the experiments. People report things like: “I noticed I held my rate in a conversation without thinking about it.” “Someone gave me a compliment and I just said thank you.” Small, but telling.

Repeating the Cycle

Identity shifts are not one-time events. The GPS+I framework is designed to be repeated monthly, with each cycle going a layer deeper.

After one cycle, the same questions — who do I need to be, what’s in the way — will yield new answers. You’ll be working at the next layer of the same identity, or a new area of life that’s ready to shift.

This is identity work as a practice — ongoing, cumulative, and compounding over time.

The GPS+I framework gives your identity work structure and sequence. If you’d like to use it inside a community of conscious entrepreneurs doing the same work, the Abundance GPS community on Skool is built around exactly this framework. First week free.