THE

ALTER
EGO EFFECT

THE POWER OF SECRET IDENTITIES

TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE

TODD HERMAN
the alter ego effect. Copyright © 2019 by Todd Herman. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information,
address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales

promotional use. For information, please email the Special Markets Department at
[email protected].

first edition

Designed by Bonni Leon-­Berman

Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-0-06-283863-6

19 20 21 22 23  lsc  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
LAYER 1: YOUR CORE DRIVERS (WHAT MOTIVATES YOU AT A
GRANDER SCALE THAN YOURSELF)

This is where you’ll find what you deeply care about, deeply re-
late to, and deeply identify with. These give you a sense of purpose
and can often be things people feel define them. Your deeper pur-
pose could be related to Family, Community, Nation, Religion, Race,
Gender, Identifiable Group, Idea, or Cause. However, as you’ll see,
these Core Drivers, and any of the layers, can also affect you nega-
tively as well.

LAYER 2: THE BELIEF LAYER (HOW YOU DEFINE YOURSELF AND THE
WORLD AROUND YOU)
This is where you’ll find your attitudes, beliefs, values, perceptions,
experiences, and expectations toward how you see yourself and how
you perceive the world around you. [Figure 3.2]

1
LAYER 3: THE ACTION LAYER (HOW YOU SHOW UP)
This represents the skills, competencies, and knowledge we’ve devel-
oped over time. It’s also the behaviors, actions, and reactions we have
on the Field of Play and during our Moments of Impact. [Figure 3.3]

LAYER 4: THE FIELD OF PLAY (WHAT’S HAPPENING)

This is the area of context. In this layer, we’re influenced by our
actual physical environment; the circumstances; the constraints; the
people, places, and things that we interact with; and their expecta-
tions. [Figure 3.4]

2
3
 Go through the following list of character traits and circle or note
which ones you already possess. Then go through and underline or note
five to ten traits your new Alter Ego or identity is going to possess, as well.

Adaptable Courageous
Adventurous Courteous
Affable Creative
Affectionate Deadly
Agreeable Decisive
Ambitious Determined
Amiable Diligent
Amicable Diplomatic
Amusing Disciplined
Badass Discreet
Brave Dynamic
Bright Easygoing
Broad-­Minded Emotional
Calculating Energetic
Calm Enthusiastic
Careful Extroverted
Charming Exuberant
Collected Fair-­Minded
Communicative Faithful
Compassionate Fearless
Competitive Fierce
Complete Fiery
Confident Flamboyant
Conscientious Flexible
Considerate Fluid
Consistent Forceful
Controlled Frank
Cool Friendly

4
Funny Persistent
Generous Pesky
Gentle Pioneering
Giant Philosophical
Gifted Placid
Good Plucky
Gregarious Polished
Hardworking Polite
Helpful Powerful
Honest Practical
Humorous Proactive
Imaginative Quick-­Witted
Impartial Quiet
Independent Rational
Intellectual Reliable
Intelligent Reserved
Intuitive Resourceful
Inventive Sensible
Kind Shadowy
Light Sincere
Loved Slippery
Loving Sociable
Loyal Spirited
Mighty Straight
Modest Strong
Mysterious Swift
Neat Sympathetic
Nice Systematic
Optimistic Thoughtful
Organized Tall
Passionate Tidy
Patient Tight

5
 Tough Versatile
Tricky Vicious
Unassuming Warmhearted
Understanding Willing
Velvety Witty

After you’ve selected five to ten character traits that would define
your Alter Ego or new identity, how would you exhibit or demonstrate
those qualities?
For example, if you chose “powerful,” how would you show up in
business as “powerful”?

What does that look like to someone else?

What does that feel like to you?
What would you sound like to other people?
What are the attitudes you have about yourself/business that
would cause you to be more powerful?
Do you have an example of someone you already perceive to be
powerful? How do they act/speak/think?

6
Here’s a helpful list of possible attributes you could tap into:

Adaptable Friendly
Adventurous Funny
Affectionate Generous
Alert Gentle
Ambitious Happy
Analytical Honest
Appreciative Honorable
Bold Hospitable
Calm Humble
Cautious Idealistic
Centered Imaginative
Charming Independent
Confident Industrious
Cooperative Innocent
Courageous Inspirational
Courteous Intelligent
Creative Introverted
Curious Just
Decisive Kind
Diplomatic Loyal
Disciplined Mature
Discreet Merciful
Easygoing Meticulous
Efficient Natural
Empathetic Focused
Enthusiastic Nurturing
Extroverted Obedient
Flamboyant Objective
Flirtatious Observant
Focused Optimistic

7
Organized Sentimental
Passionate Simple
Patient Socially Aware
Patriotic Sophisticated
Pensive Spiritual
Perceptive Spontaneous
Persistent Spunky
Persuasive Studious
Philosophical Supportive
Playful Talented
Private Thrifty
Proactive Tolerant
Professional Traditional
Proper Trusting
Protective Uninhibited
Quirky Unselfish
Resourceful Whimsical
Responsible Wholesome
Sensible Wise
Sensual Witty

8
 MORE EXERCISES TO BUILD YOUR ALTER EGO

These exercises are a collection of some I’ve used with clients in the
past to help them get greater clarity with their Alter Ego. Try one, try
them all, possibly something else will click for you.
Exercise 1: Relax yourself and imagine watching your character
growing up from birth until now. What shaped them? What do they
do differently from you? How do they look? How do they speak?
What words or phrases do they use? What feelings do they have?
What skills and capabilities do they possess?
Exercise 2: Imagine yourself in a lab creating this Alter Ego. What
are you adding, what are you taking away? One of my clients did this
exercise by imagining it was his twin brother, and they were separated
at birth. His brother was stuck in a black hole of wisdom and learned
all the highest-­level skills of his sport. My client tapped into his Alter
Ego when he wanted to show up on the playing field as a source of
infinite wisdom.
Exercise 3: Write out a full conversation between you and the Alter
Ego. I had one client pretend she was stuck in an elevator with her
Alter Ego, and they had no one else to talk to but each other. I had
her imagine asking her Alter Ego how her mind worked before a com-
petition. What do they think of competitors, or is the Alter Ego so
confident that they don’t even care or think about the competitors?
Did the Alter Ego worry about anything? What were they striving for?
She observed the Alter Ego; what did she look like? How did she hold
herself? How did she move? What expressions did she have? Then I
asked her how she would describe the Alter Ego to a friend after they
escaped from the elevator?