Hi, I hope you're doing well. You see, I've noticed a lot of talk about self-concept and how important it is to work on it. But there's little discussion about how to do it. The most frequent advice I see involves affirmations, but what do you do when that's not your thing? How do you adopt a new identity? (I'm Latina and I speak Spanish; my English isn't very good. I apologize if there are any typos or anything that makes my message confusing.)
Self concept and creating an alter ego to adopt a new identity 🌝
Your English is great don't worry. And if you don't understand some of the things I say you can ask in the comments, I don't speak Spanish but I'll try to help explaining 🫶🏻
Yeah it involves affirmations for your brain to accept it but you don't have to affirm If you don't want. You can script it. Under the title of "new me" or the name of your alter ego. Alter ego is something lots of people do, even célébrités do, like I mentioned in my earlier reblogs & @selciore did in her amazing posts.
Creating an alter ego without relying on traditional affs or forcing a massive shift in ur overall self concept is all about framing. Instead of trying to convince ur brain that youre someone else ( like "im naturally confident, im a completely different person"), you see the alter ego as a costume, a functional avatar, or an energetic mask that you wear for specific situations.
And how to construct one???
Start by defining ur purpose. An alter ego dosent need to replace who you are 24/7,, in fact, it works better when it has a targeted job. Decide, When does this persona handle things for you? (For example public speaking, tough conversations, high focus study/ work sessions, creative writing, social events etc).
Name this new personality. Giving them a distinct name (or even an alias or title works good) create immediate psychological distance between "you" and "the role." And yeah don't think its a separate person, it's still you just another personality/ role. if you aren't using affirmations to change your mental narrative, use somatic feedback to change your internal state. Your body dictates how ur brain processes identity in real time.
How does this persona stand? Do they walk slower and heavier, or swift and light? Imagine it. How do they speak? Lower pitch? Longer pauses before responding? Less pitch? where do they look in a room?
When you physically move like the persona, your nervous system should respond to the physical cues before your cognitive mind can doubt it. You don't have to believe that ure bold, brave, smart, you just have to execute the physical posture of someone who is. (Again, still you, just another personality)
And to step into ur character without mental effort,, use external sensory anchors that signal to your brain “oh yeah the costume is on let's go.” A particular pair of boots, a ring, a specific jacket, or a style of clothing reserved only for when ur alter ego is active. Wear a dedicated perfume or cologne that you use jsut for this persona. Scent bypass the analytical mind and directly triggers neural statess🧠 A specific song or playlist you listen to for like 2 min before for example.
Also u said u don't like affirming, so, instead of "im calm under pressure" write down 3- 5 procedural rules for how this character operates. Act it like a character sheet in a game.
Yup this was alter ego creation 101. You can use Karol G 's & Tyla's songs for ur inspiration, I love them so so so much and they were my muse creating my own alter identity. Their energy motivated me so much. Plus, Karol G mentioned she was talking about her alter ego Ivonny in her song. I listened to it the whole winter on repeat and imagined myself as Ivonny. That's probably a huge reason why I did so well at my college exam. I was confident and I knew I was gonna win cause that was my identity, even tho I barely studied for it.