PEAK: The Surprising Link Between Clothing and Performance

When he was in his early twenties, Todd Herman started a sports training business in his spare time. He was having modest success, but not enough to sustain it.

Herman knew he could help people. However, he was insecure about his age and the fact that he looked even younger than he was. He was worried no one would take him seriously.

One day, he had an idea. When he was a kid, all the smart people that he knew seemed to wear glasses. As a result, he had come to equate wearing glasses with being smart and being taken seriously.

“What if I wore glasses?” he thought to himself. 

Maybe then people would respect him and think he was smart. As crazy as it seemed (especially since he had perfect vision), he figured it was worth a try.

So, he went to an eyeglass store and bought a pair of prescription-free glasses. Then, he started wearing them when he dealt with potential clients.

Putting on his glasses became his “Reverse Superman” move. While Superman would put on glasses to appear normal, Herman started wearing glasses to transform into the strongest, most confident version of himself.

It worked.

Fast forward to today, and Herman has built an extremely successful business and helped thousands of athletes, leaders, and public figures achieve incredible goals.

One of the keys to their success is a concept known as “enclothed cognition,” a term coined by psychologists Hajo Adam and Adam Galinski. 

I first learned about this term and research in Herman’s book titled The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life.

In a 2012 series of experiments, Adam and Galinski studied the impact of wearing a lab coat. 

A pretest before their experiments found that people typically associate a lab coat with carefulness and attentiveness. As a result, the psychologists predicted that wearing a lab coat would lead to greater attention.

They found that attention was higher when participants wore a lab coat than when they did not. They also found that wearing a coat described as a “doctor’s coat” led to closer attention than wearing a coat described as a “painter’s coat.”

The researchers concluded that the influence of your clothes depends on two independent factors: (1) the physical experience of wearing the clothes and (2) the symbolic meaning that you assign to the clothes.

Todd Herman provides many practical ideas and specific examples in The Alter Ego Effect on how to use enclothed cognition (and an alter ego) to enhance your performance in any area of your life.

Here are four steps that you can follow:

1. Identify a “Field of Play” where you would like to perform even better.

A Field of Play is not limited to sports and fitness. For example, a courtroom is a Field of Play for a lawyer.

2. Determine how you want to behave on your “Field of Play.”

After selecting a Field of Play, determine how you want to behave when you are there. What are a few words that describe how you want to act and be perceived?

3. Choose a symbolic item or uniform to wear.

The item or uniform that you choose should be the physical embodiment of the traits that you identified in the last step.

Here are some ideas from Herman on what you could wear for one of your Fields of Play:

• Glasses
• Wristband
• Bracelet
• Ring
• Necklace
• Watch
• Suit

Herman also provides some additional tips on choosing your uniform or item:

• Choose an item that you will enjoy wearing. It should make you feel great.
• Only wear your item while in/on your Field of Play. It will not feel special if you wear it all of the time or too often.
• Don’t share your item or tell others about its purpose. Keep it to yourself, and it will have more power.

Whatever you choose, make sure it holds meaning for you.

4. Select your “Activation Event.”

An Activation Event is Herman’s term for that moment when you transform yourself before stepping onto your Field of Play. 

In his book, Herman uses the example of how Clark Kent steps into a phone booth to transform into Superman.

When, where, and how will you put on your uniform or item and signal to yourself that it is time for action?

Your clothes influence your performance. Choose them wisely.

References

1. Todd Herman, The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2019).
2. Hajo Adam and Adam D, Galinsky, “Enclothed Cognition,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48, no. 4 (July 2012): 918-925.

Trusted by Leading Organizations

Pete’s clients, speaking engagements, and media coverage have included the following: