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As children we lived immersed in fantasy and character building. With ease we transformed into super heroes, adopted secret identities, became cops, indians, heroes and bank robbers. But as we grew up we were told to become adults, and to land in reality. We forgot that character making and storytelling are integral parts of the human experience.
What if I told you that you can go through a straightforward process to create and access an alternate version of yourself that is so grounded in your emotions and your psyche that you can show up completely differently in your work, in your videos, in your sales calls, or wherever undesirable traits are holding you back.
One example cited in the book is that of a famous tennis player who saw herself as an extremely kind and giving person.
She was the kind of person that’d give all the money she had on her if she saw a homeless person in the street. The problem was this identity was holding her back in the court, where she at times felt that she was humiliating the other player, so she’d find herself losing her game and pretty much letting other players win.
Todd Herman, the author of the book worked with her personally to change this and helped her realize letting someone win is actually far from kind. It would send a signal to the other player that they were better than they actually were, and in order to stop this and gain her game back she’d have to come up with a new identity. One who understood she was there to leave it all in the court and win.
Step 1 in creating your Alter Ego - Decide How You Want to Change.
Determine what behavioural and mental changes you wish to make and in what realm of your life. Is it performing better in sales, in the kitchen, on the stage? What is your motivating purpose?
For me personally, I really like busking, or performing music out in the street, but somehow when I do, I become very stiff, and nervous, and all this negativity flows through me. I sing scared, and I absolutely hate it, it constricts my voice.
From knowing all the things I don’t like about myself on stage I determined the qualities my alter ego will have. (their opposites)
Step 2 Identify your alter ego’s inner nemesis.
When I perform I can hear my inner voice rampantly putting me down. “You are scared again,” “You sound bad” “what are you doing with your hands, who do you think you are?”
The alter ego effect helped me identify this inner voice and connect it to specific people from my childhood who would bully me and put me down. I’ll keep that private, but long story short, it was a kid! So I created a character, named it after him and now I can send him to the sidelines when he comes up.
If your alter ego’s nemesis is not bubbling up an anger inside you then it is not strong enough yet. Our minds need strong emotional connections to our stories in order to truly access them.
For the skeptics, know that this is science!
What is your current ego that holds you back if not a story that you tell yourself and believe?
Multiple famous artists, performers and entrepreneurs have spoken about using the alterego effect to show up differently in their field of choice. Among them Oprah, Beyonce, and a couple basketball players and business men whose identities the author did not reveal.
Step 3 Build Your Alter Ego.
Who are they? What are they called? What is their back story?
In my case my alter ego’s name for performing music, and trust I do have another one for business, is August First, he is my long lost twin, separated on our birth and raised in a science experiment type environment, in a family where he was encouraged to be big, and as strange and free as he wanted to. He was trained in arts and is a free soul.
August First is a free spirit, confident, joyful, androgynous and, BIG! positivity flows through him. His presence gives others permission to shred their shyness to pieces and have fun. He is the life of the party, and he understands this as a service, where he gets to shed that light on everyone else.
Step 4 Attach a token to access your Alter Ego.
When I want to access August First, I slip on these boots I love. They make me two inches taller, I may be 5’11, but August First is 6’1 baby. When I put on the boots I can feel myself accessing the character.
Within days of reading the book and building the character my performance was on a completely different level.
Maybe you want to show up differently in your videos, or in your sales calls, maybe you want to show up differently when you get home and be a fun dad. The alter ego effect will walk you through finding that character in such an emotionally engaging way you will see your performance in your desired field shoot through the roof.
My intention with this post is to inspire you to read the whole book. It blew my mind so much I simply had to give you a little glimpse of it’s value. I hope you read it or listen to it, and you access a persona that supercharges your performance at work.
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