Todd Herman - The Alter Ego Effect

Standing in the greenroom looking at my notes, I waited to be called onstage before a crowd of coaches from the world of sports. As I was reviewing my presentation, a man built like a powerful bulldog walked into the room. Id played him on Nintendo as a kid. He strolled over to me with a big smile, reached out, and said, Hi, Im Bo Jackson.

I laughed and said, Hi, Im Todd Herman. I know who you are, Bo. Id probably lose all credibility if I worked in sports and didnt know the only two-sport all-star in the pros. Plus, you helped me win a lot of games on Tecmo Bowl!

He chuckled and said, Yeah, youre not the first to say that. And thanks. Are you speaking today, too?

Yeah. Im up next. But maybe I just got bumped for you. I laughed.

No, youre good. I just came early to see a friend, he said. So what are you gonna talk about?

Im going to talk about the mental game, but, specifically, Im going to share with everyone how to use Alter Egos and Secret Identities to perform at your best.

Immediately, he cocked his head to the side slightly, squinted his eyes as if someone had just struck a deep chord inside him, and then smirked. He shook his head. After a few seconds, he said in a hushed, serious tone, Bo Jackson never played a down of football in his entire life.

If you dont know Bo Jackson, hes the only athlete in the big four of major North American sports to be an all-star in two of them, Major League Baseball and the National Football League. He was a phenom who transcended sports in the 1980s and, for a sport-loving kid like me, a superhero.

My eyes widened as I smiled and said, Ooookaayyy... interesting. Tell me more.

Bo went on to explain how as a youngster he had challenges containing his emotions and would get into a lot of trouble because of his anger. Often, hed get caught up in the competition, and hed retaliate against even the smallest perceived slights, causing him to get hit with unnecessary penalties.

One day, though, as he was watching a movie, he became fascinated by the unemotional, cold, and relentless nature of Jason. Does the name ring a bell?

Jason was the hockey maskwearing killer in the Friday the 13th movies.

At that momentduring the moviehe resolved to stop being Bo Jackson and start being Jason on the football field, leaving the uncontrollable rage on the sidelines.

Bo went on to explain how Jason only lived on the field. And when he walked out of the locker room and reached the football field, Jason would enter his body and take over. Suddenly the hotheaded, penalty-prone, easy-to-provoke Bo Jackson transformed into a relentless, cold, and disciplined destroyer on the football field.

Channeling a different identity helped him focus every ounce of his talent and skill, and enabled him to show up on the field, without any emotional issues interfering with his performance.

It was his phone booth moment. Just like Clark Kent would sometimes go into a phone booth to transform into Superman, Bo Jackson did the same thing when he transformed into his Alter Ego, Jason. Except he didnt have to deal with annoying space issues like Superman explained in a 1942 comic: This definitely isnt the most comfortable place in the world to switch garments, but Ive got to change identitiesand in a hurry!

While its a funny quote, theres something embedded in his statement that reveals the transformational nature of the Alter Ego Effect.

WHOS THE ALTER EGO?

Ive always been fascinated by comics, comic book heroes, and the worlds they live in. The origin stories, the villains, and the epic battles always found a way to draw me into their worlds. As a kid, I loved the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. Today people might laugh at those 1980s productions compared to the epic rebirth of superhero movies happening now, but back in the day, they were awesome. Now, heres a riddle for you:

Everyone knows that Superman and Clark Kent are the same. But which one is the alter ego?

Ive asked this question for the past fifteen years, countless times in front of audiences around the world, and 90 percent of the audience immediately yell out, SUPERMAN!

It sounds right. Because when you think of alter egos, you think of superpowers, heroism, and epic battles. All the qualities of a superhero like Superman.

Exceptits wrong.

The alter ego isnt Superman; its Clark Kent. Superman is the real person. He created the alter ego, mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, as a useful persona to go unnoticed day-to-day on earth and blend in to help him achieve a crucial goal: understanding humans.

Superman would flip between his alter ego and the S on his chest at precisely the moments when he needed each persona the most.

Why does this matter?

Because, frankly, life is hard. There are a lot of different responsibilities we all carry on our shoulders. There are a lot of different roles we play in life. And there are the constant forces of societyreligion, families, teammates, coworkers, friends, and othersthat lead us to act a certain way. These come in the form of expectations, rules, and judgments about how were supposed to act. What were allowed to pursue. What we should have. What we should believe.

All of this and more creates what I call the Trapped Self, which well reveal more of in . This Trapped Self is the part of you that doesnt feel like its showing up in life like you want, avoiding certain things or feeling pressured to act in a certain way.