Step Into Your Legendary Alter Ego (How to Leverage Psychological Distancing)

Today was not like any other day.

Dressed in t-shirt and tights, a 9 year old girl who looks totally normal will do something extraordinary.

That day in 2010, an 88 pound Orthodox Jewish girl broke the world record in a sport dominated by men for squatting 205 pounds.

Her name is Naomi Kutin, but when she lifts, she is Super Girl.

Extraordinary? That's the power of an alter ego.

But what is it? Ego is our sense of self, the way we identify with our lives. This sense of self is built through experiences we remember from our life.

An alter ego is a second self or alternate personality that a person assumes [2]. It’s created to express specific traits and behaviors not typically shown in the person’s everyday life.

A psychological mystery

British actor Rowan Atkinson is famous for his character “Mr. Bean”, but what most people don’t know is that he was bullied for his stuttering throughout his school years. When interviewed for an issue in Time magazine back in August 23, 2007, he said this about his stuttering “It comes and goes. I find when I play a character other than myself, the stammering disappears.” [3]

Isn’t that absolutely amazing? There are so many things about the human mind we don’t know, but what we do know is that our imagination is an incredibly powerful thing, creating new worlds and new possibilities when intentionally applied.

The truth is you may already be doing it

Maybe you are an introvert, but you know that when the spotlight is on, when you are at a networking event, you need to act like an extrovert. You tell stories, engage in small talk, talk a little louder, look people in the eyes, stand up a little straighter. You do all the things you need to do in order to make a great impression.

But when you leave and get in the car, you go back to your introverted self and enjoy the silence of driving home. It’s doing it without knowing that you do it. Now is the chance to make it intentional.

BASE PRINCIPLE

Alter egos leverage the concept of psychological distancing, where people are less emotionally attached to the immediate feelings of the task in order to stay focused on achieving the end goal [4].

WHAT IF?

What if you could turn it on and off? What if you could step into your heroic self and get things done the way you need it to get done? What if you could get past “this isn’t me” and get the results you desire anyway?

It was 2003 and he was at the lowest point of his life. His personal life was in shambles and his family was coming very close to breaking up. He went from being celebrated on the basketball court, to being booed by the crowd.

If you haven’t already guessed, this was Kobe Bryant, The Black Mamba. He invented this alter ego in order to get pass the darkest years of his life, and it stuck.

“I had to separate myself. It felt like there were so many things coming at once. It was just becoming very, very confusing. I had to organize things. So I created The Black Mamba.”

He handled all his personal challenges as “Kobe” and on the court “The Black Mamba” took care of business. His alter ego harnessed all the darkness and the ferocity he had battling internally and unleashed it on the court. [5]

CREATE YOUR ALTER EGO

STEP 1: THE NEED

When do you need to transform?

Remember that your alter ego is not your primary self, it’s a secondary identity tailored specifically for a need. In which area of your life do you need to be very different in order to be successful?

• An introvert needing to be extroverted at work?

• A desk worker by day, needing to raise the roof in the band by night?

• A loud and outgoing person who needs to tend to the terminally ill as a volunteer?

• Need to amp up grit and determination during your running races?

Pick a role, a place, a time, an event where you need to transform in order to be successful.

STEP 2: THE ALTER EGO

Who do you need to be?

List all the traits and behaviors you need to embody and then give it a name. Use these categories as inspiration:

• Title (Captain, General, Master, Champion etc.)

• Animals (Lion, Eagle, Hawk etc. just like The Black Mamba)

• Secret name (A different name. Maybe you’ve always liked a different name or maybe your middle or last name? David Goggins’ alter ego is just Goggins)

• Celebrities and characters (movie characters, superheroes etc. Did you know Adele, the singer’s alter ego was Sasha Carter? Sasha, from Beyonce’s alter ego Sasha Fierce and Carter from the late singer June Carter.)

Captain Courage? Razor Hawk? Tina Cyrus?

Have fun with it and let your gut do the deciding.

STEP 3: THE TRANSFORMATION

How do you activate it?

One of the best ways to get into character is a totem. A symbolic artifact that “activates” your transformation. When you think about Superman and Clark Kent, you would at first think that Superman is the alter ego, in fact, Superman is the primary self and Clark Kent is Kal-El’s alter ego to feel a sense of belonging to the human world. When Superman puts on his glasses, he is transformed to Clark, that’s his totem.

What could be yours? Running shoes? Stilettos? A hat? A ring? Workout gear like the story of Naomi Kutin? Think about something symbolic that gets you ready to address the need you’ve identified in Step 1.

In place of a totem, you can also use a place to activate your transformation. When Kobe steps onto the court, when Beyonce steps on stage, identifying these places will serve as your proverbial telephone booth - your place of transformation.

Remember, your alter ego is still YOU. You are just focusing and distancing yourself from the problem at hand.

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As always, use this psychological trick to do good 💪🏽

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Live your legend,

Howie Chan

Creator of Legend Letters

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Sources:

1. Konstantinovsky, Michelle, On Supergirls, Sasha Fierce, Slim Shady, and Having An Alter Ego, PBS, December 12, 2017 - LINK​

2. Dr. Tripathi, Ashutosh, Understanding Alter Ego: Definition, Types & Examples, Social Psychology, March 30, 2023 - LINK​

3. Herman, Todd, The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life - LINK​

4. Robson, David, The ‘Batman Effect’: How having an alter ego empowers you, BBC, August 17, 2020 - LINK​

5. Gaines, Cork, Kobe Bryant created his ‘Black Mamba’ alter-ego as a way to get through the lowest point of his career, Insider Business, January 26, 2023 - LINK