I played Sweeper in soccer for years.

Or, football depending on where you live.

I was pretty good at it, but nowhere near good enough to ever play professionally.

A Sweeper is the last defender before the goalie.

So if the opposing team’s offense gets past you, all bets are off.

I made saves I still remember decades later.

But I got burned a lot too.

And when I did, I always felt like I let my team down.

But in sports, like in life, sometimes you chase amnesia.

You want to be able to forget the play you just bungled so that one mistake doesn’t send you into a tailspin.

It’s the equivalent of letting a poorly written email that you’ve already sent ruin your entire week.

While researching my mind for this piece, I realized that even back in my Sweeper days, I was using a neat trick for recentering myself after getting beat on the field.

After a bad play, I’d address myself by my nickname in my head or out loud.

I still do this when stressed, behind or in need of a pick me up.

As it turns out, there's real science behind my shout-outs.

I didn’t realize it until I came across a performance expert named Todd Herman and his book, The Alter Ego Effect.

Here's Herman's core idea.

Every one of us has a version of ourselves we show up as on a regular Tuesday.

That version is fine, functional and gets the job done, most of the time.

But there are moments in life, a tough conversation, a high-stakes presentation, or a situation where everything in you wants to shrink….


Moments where your regular Tuesday self is in the room, but the version of you that can actually handle it, is not.

Herman calls this the gap.

His solution isn't to fake confidence, white or brown-knuckle your way through it.

Instead, it's to build a separate persona, an alter ego…

One you can step into when your everyday self isn’t up to the challenge.

It’s called creating an alter ego.

The alter ego is a second version of yourself that you build with purpose.

It’s known to boost confidence, focus, and emotional control, allowing individuals to overcome anxiety and improve performance by "stepping outside" themselves.

This other version has a name, specific traits, a different energy, a different attitude, a different way of walking into a room than you.

You give them the traits you want for for yourself.

The idea is that before a big event, you turn on or step into your Alter Ego.

You Activate them with a phrase or a gesture.

You can also use a trigger like a piece of clothing or jewelry to summon them when it’s time.

You can pretty much use anything that tells your brain: “hey, we're not operating as usual today.

Low confidence is one of the most common and persistent side effects of dyslexia.

Especially as we grow older and life’s stakes get bigger.

Boss or co-worker conversations, job/ careers changes, meetings, work email, running reports or speaking up when you know you have something worth saying.

These moments don't get easier on their own.

If anything, the pressure multiplies.

So the alter ego is the lever you pull in the moment you need backup.

And here's the part that makes this life changing.

Over time, the traits you step into start to merge with who you actually are.

The repeated actions you take become the confidence you embody.

The alter ego doesn't replace you, it amplifies and lifts you up.

Some of the most decorated performers, athletes and artists in the world have been running this play for decades.

Beyoncé talked openly about creating Sasha Fierce; her confident and powerful alter ego.

Beyoncé described herself as shy. Sasha was everything she couldn't access on her own, in front of 80,000 people.

Beyoncé wasn’t pretending to be someone else. Sasha Fierce was the version of Beyoncé that could handle the room.

In 2010 she retired Sasha because she said she didn't need her anymore.


Kobe Bryant created Black Mamba after a difficult period that threatened to sideline his career. He needed to separate the man dealing with the noise from the player who had to show up on the basketball court and compete.

Black Mamba helped him "shut off" external distractions, creating a new discipline known as the "Mamba Mentality," which lined up with some of his best career moments.


David Bowie spent years struggling to find his footing as plain David Jones from Brixton. Then Ziggy Stardust arrived and changed everything.

Bowie became Ziggy and lived inside that persona long enough to write and produce some of the most iconic music of the 20th century.

The Sweeper on the soccer field is the last line of defense.

When everyone else on the field has been beaten and the pressure is at the highest, it’s on them to make a play.

That's exactly what an alter ego does.

They're the one who shows up at peak moments.

The reason the alter ego works is because of something researchers call psychological distancing.

When thinking in the third person, you're operating as ‘someone else’.

You create psychological distance between yourself and the threat.

Your brain stops processing the moments you feel exposed, as a personal attack on you.

This in turn improves your perfromance, increases motivation, concentration, and self-control.

For dyslexic adults, high pressure, amygdala-inducing events show up often.

It’s why you’re hypervigilant and prone to overthinking.

So the question isn’t whether or not you should use this tool to unlock your next level of confidence.

The real question is…

What will you name your alter ego?

P.S. Building your alter ego starts with knowing which version of yourself you need. 

What are they like? How do they move? What do they say when the pressure’s on? 

Do you trust yourself enough to let them show up?

That's what Confidence on Demand is built for.

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