Inspiration is the process of being stimulated to have specific emotions or behaviors.  Inspiration can come from both people or things.  As you work to create the different aspects of your alter ego, think about who or what can help inspire them.  Below are different types of inspiration sources that may be useful in this process: 

1. Actual People – actors, athletes, authors, celebrities, coaches, family members, friends, historical figures, mentors, musicians, online influencers, teachers, etc.
2. Fictional Characters – cartoons, literature, movies, superheroes, television, etc.
3. Animals – creatures that exist in air, land, sea, etc.
4. Machines – automobiles, planes, trains, etc.

Inspirations are a vital component and cornerstone of an alter ego for the following five reasons:

First, inspirations will fuel the emotions and behaviors that have helped propel your athletic success to its current levels.  These are the thoughts, feelings, actions, and results that come easily and naturally to you, your strengths.  You can now look to your favorite athlete (or any type of inspiration) to further develop, hone, and leverage your emotional and behavioral strengths. This will allow your alter ego’s mental game to further capitalize on your strengths, leading to a heightened level of performance and further success.

Second, inspirations will help you determine the emotions and behaviors you need to start having to improve your mindset and performance.  These are the thoughts, feelings, actions, and results you don’t currently possess but know you need to have in order to experience the success you know you are capable of.  In this scenario, you can look to your favorite athlete (or any type of inspiration) as an example of someone who already has the emotions, behaviors, and results you desire.  Your alter ego can then adopt these qualities as its own to help you enhance your state of mind and performance.

Third, inspirations will help you replace negative emotions and destructive behaviors that are hindering your success with those that are aligned with your desired athletic results.  You can look to an athlete you admire (or any type of inspiration) to see how they would respond differently to your situations, think differently, feel differently, take different actions, and hence experience different results. Your alter ego can then replace your current detrimental emotions and behaviors with their performance enhancing attributes.  By using your alter ego inspirations to neutralize these harmful behaviors and emotions you will improve your mindset and better position yourself for athletic success.

Fourth, inspirations will help you find your inner strength by pulling emotions and behaviors hidden deep inside you to the surface.  It is often easier to teach yourself a new emotion or behavior by using those of your favorite athlete (or any type of inspiration).  You can imagine being in their shoes to see how they would respond to your situations as well as how they would think, feel, and act.  Over time however, you will realize you already possessed these capabilities, you just needed a catalyst to draw them out.  Once you understand this process, it will allow you to develop the emotions and behaviors that are necessary for your success.  Which in turn, will make your alter ego mindset more and more invincible and lead to improved performance beyond your wildest expectations.

Last but not least, inspirations make your alter ego fun!  Think about it for a moment, you get to take a piece of all of your favorite athletes, heroes, etc. and roll them all into your alter ego.  An alter ego which draws its power from the ability, knowledge, and experience of your inspirations.  An alter ego hand crafted and designed with the emotions and behaviors to help you master the mental game, unleash your potential, and take your performance to a new level.  Sounds like fun to me!