What’s your secret identity?
Performance coach Todd Herman on leveraging your alter ego to empower yourselfThere are critical moments in all of our lives that could be great opportunities for growth and expansion – any high-stakes situation such as an interview, a pitch, an important meeting. However, so many of us aren’t prepared to take advantage of those opportunities because we lack the tools and skills necessary to execute when we need it most.
Knowing your personality and identifying your strengths and weaknesses is an essential part of self-awareness. But getting too stuck in an idea of yourself can cause you to miss out on creating the life you want – you could end up not living up to your potential.
In this episode of the Tony Robbins Podcast, we meet Todd Herman to discuss why we have a hard time adapting to high-pressure situations. He also delves into the power of alter egos – or what he refers to as “secret identities” – and how they allow us to magnify certain parts of our personality when we need it most.
Who is Todd Herman?
Todd is a performance coach and the founder of the Peak Athlete, a mental toughness training and sports science research company, advising professional and Olympic athletes for over 18 years. He’s also creator of The 90-Day Year Program, a goal achievement system used by athletes, entrepreneurs and companies like Shell, Goldman Sachs, Cisco Systems and government agencies around the world. The Boston Herald called him “A Sports Training Superstar” and he’s also the author of The Alter Ego Effect: How The World’s Top Performers Use Secret Identities To Win In Sport, Business & Life.
Our true nature
Alter egos are one of the key strategies Todd teaches to help people achieve their goals, whether that means public speaking or winning a Grand Slam. To create an alter ego, you must realize your true nature and identify any limiting beliefs that are holding you back. We’re all born with a playful nature, the ability to play other roles without judgment and criticism. But as we grow, we develop limiting beliefs that tell us who we “are” – and who we are not.
These beliefs affect everything we do. The ability to create an alter ego can help us step into a different version of ourselves when the need arises, without affecting the underlying values that make us who we are. This is something we often do subconsciously. Secret identities are a natural part of the human experience that we can use to get out of our own way. Alter egos help us harness that power.
