The first piece of the puzzle is to determine why you want to create an alter ego in the first place. The true source of your motivation as an athlete. The underlying reason you want to achieve your desired results.  You will discover this through the lens of the term conation.   Conation is one of three components of the mind:

1. Cognition (knowledge/thoughts)
2. Affect (emotion/feelings)
3. Conation (motivation/actions)

Conation is defined as the mental faculty of purpose, desire, or will to perform an action; volition.⁵

Conation is the part of your mind that has to do with what drives you to act and strive.  It is the intrinsic motivation that pushes your behavior toward your desired results.  This is the reason you work so hard at your sport.  The fire inside you that continues to burn while you do the work others aren’t willing to do.  The voice inside your head that says, “I want some more”, when your body is begging you to stop.  When you peel back all the motivational layers, there sits your true “why”…what you are fighting for….your conation.

One of the best ways to determine your conation is to figure out what you are fighting for.  Batman is a great example.  As a child Bruce Wayne witnessed the murder of his parents.  He swore vengeance against criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice.  He then created a bat inspired alter ego who fights for justice.

Once you create your conation by answering the chapter questions, you will have a very powerful tower of strength to lean on when times are tough and the work gets difficult.  It will provide you the drive to keep pushing forward when things get inconvenient and uncomfortable.  Your conation will allow you to take a step back, put things in perspective, and remember what you are ultimately fighting for.