Alter Ego

Suffering from Imposter Syndrome? Ever felt like you’re not good enough to close the sale or lead the team? 

What if you already had all the tools you need to get everything you want? 

In his new book “The Alter Ego Effect”, my good friend Todd Herman outlines how we already have all the tools we need – the challenge is knowing how to access them.

Todd says that using an Alter Ego to create some distance between how you currently see yourself and how you’d like to perform is not only smart, it’s backed by research. 

For example, a recent University of Minnesota study of four- and six- year- old children found that to teach kids perseverance, parents should teach children to pretend to be like their favourite superhero — because it creates psychological distance.

It’s this simple but powerful idea that we can create an Alter Ego of a super-self, that we step into when needed.  We can create an Alter Ego for anything we do that is challenging and needs us to be at our best, but also protected.

This is exactly what is happening when a performer has their stage character and then their off-stage character.

Todd explains more in the video in the link in the first comment below. There is also a link to his new book – it’s a terrific read.

Do you have an Alter Ego you use?