Kobe Bryant leveraged the Black Mamba alter ego to separate his play on the court from the chaos of his real life. Other athletes have also used this tool to maximize their performance and disassociate from their fears. In this deep dive, I pull out my favorite highlights from “The Alter Ego Effect”, a book by Todd Herman. This is no substitute for the book, but a simple distillation of some of what I thought were the most important parts and how they relate to the athletes we studied.

In the episode, we learn why people create alter egos, which athletes have used them successfully, and how you can create one to dominate your field of play.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 2:05 Who Uses Alter Egos?
  • 4:50 You Already Have Alter Egos
  • 6:25 Why Have an Alter Ego
  • 7:30 The Batman Effect
  • 9:55 Creating an Alter Ego
  • 16:55 Kobe & The Mamba

Links and resources