The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman

 I heard a podcaster rave about this book and how it changed his life. The reviews on Amazon had similar stories. It didn't affect me this way, though there are some good ideas. To me it seemed too complicated to create this alter ego, and the research he cited didn't necessarily tie too firmly to the practice he was advocating. The author, Todd Herman, is a coach and "mental game strategist" and not a psychologist, so using the research this way isn't surprising. Still, he makes some good use of strategies... And I probably shouldn't judge the success of his ideas since I didn't try them in their entirety. I just wasn't sold on the whole idea...though parts do ring true and I am trying some of them. Herman's examples are most often from sports, so I naturally took some of his ideas and applied them to my pickleball game. They work occasionally--but, I haven't really given them a fair chance. 

One practice, meditation, that he advocates, clearly has a strong research base. No question there. And his example of how to short cut learning one method of meditating I found very useful. Here's his description: (Page 221)

Sit in a comfortable position. It could be in a chair or on the floor. Pace an object like a ball or a blank piece of paper two feet in front of you. Set a timer for three minutes. During the three minutes, you'll start by visualizing the number 1, on the object. The moment you notice your mind has drifted off of the number 1, visualize the number 2 on the object. Once again, when you've noticed your mind has drifted, visualize the number 3. Continue this pattern until the timer goes off. Whatever number you're left with when the timer goes off is the number you'll want to record somewhere. If you ended with the number 34, then that's the score for this round. You want a lower number next round.

Now do the exercise again, except this time activate your Alter Ego, with your Totem and go through the same process as your Alter Ego. If it's Einstein, be Einstein. If it's an elephant, be an elephant. If it's your strong and resilient grandmother, be her. Then record the number you're left with at the end.

How did it go? Were you better? Was it harder?

The two most common experiences people trying this for the first time are: 1) they were able to beat their previous score by a fair margin; 2) they found themselves looping back and forth between remembering to be their Alter Ego and focusing on the number. 

Either one is a great outcome because, with even more practice, things improve. 

I may give this book another chance...but maybe not. Parts are useful...