THE PRINCIPLE

To turn your dream into the reality you need to change your mental state

In the last part, I described how to summon the ‘Originator’ alter ego, the part of yourself that is great at brainstorming and thinking out of the box. That is the state perfect for generating lots of new ideas. But if you remain in that state when you move on to turn one of those dreams into reality, probably you will never accomplish what you set out to do.

If you have a history of starting things but never quite finishing them, it may be because you stay in the dreamer state too long. When dreamers encounter an obstacle, their minds tend to wander to other things they could do. They are attracted by the bright, shiny lure of new ideas and distracted from the task at hand. The result is a trail of half-finished projects and a sense of frustration.

The solution is to switch to the Action Man or Action Woman alter ego when you want to turn your idea into something tangible. The process is the same as when you summoned the Originator alter ego. Here are the five steps:

1. Remember a time when you were decisive and focused on getting things done. It may have been recently or you may need to go all the way back to when you were a child.
2. In your imagination, vividly recall what the world looked like when you were in that state, anything you said to yourself or that others said to you and especially what it felt like in your body.
3. When that feeling is really strong, make a gesture like pressing your thumb and a finger together. Use a different combination than you used for the Originator alter ego. For example, maybe you used your thumb and forefinger that time. This time use your thumb and little finger.
4. Practise doing this a few separate times. You are establishing a connection between those feelings and the gesture.
5. The next time you want to take specific, focused action, make the gesture and you should notice yourself returning to the Action Man or Action Woman alter ego state. If the feeling starts to weaken or you are distracted and feel you’re losing that state, just make the gesture again.

Stay in that state until you’ve finished your working session, then decide what you want to do next and what kind of alter ego would best serve you in that task. As I mentioned before, with practice you can have a whole team of alter egos at your beck and call.