Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor • September 2020 • From the editor

Forget social distancing: Self-distancing may be the best thing for you and your business right now.

Self-distancing, (or the “Batman effect” – which honestly sounds so much “cooler”) is essentially the creation of an alter ego to build confidence and involves “taking a step back from our immediate feelings to allow us to view a situation more dispassionately,” according to an article from the BBC.

You may have seen examples of this throughout your life: It could be the “shy” kid in school who came out of their shell while on stage. For instance, Beyoncé debuted her Sasha Fierce alter ego in 2008, which she says boosted her confidence while on stage. (She has since “retired” Ms. Fierce.)

At first I assumed the “Batman effect” was coined because Batman was the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, but that’s only one part of it. Apparently the namesake was highlighted during a study of six-year-olds as well. Split into three groups, the kids were given a rather boring, repetitive task to complete (framed as a “very important activity”), and an iPad was left in the room with a much more engaging game to play, designed to lure the kids away from the activity. Before the task, the children were told that if they started to get bored that it’s helpful to ask themselves about thier feelings. One group were told to think in the first-person (“am I working hard?”); another told to think in the third-person (“is Andrew working hard?); and the last group were encouraged to become a favourite character (“is Batman working hard?”). Researchers observed that the alter ego was the more extreme form of self-distancing, and overall, this group spent 13% more of the total available time on the task than those thinking in the third-person, and 23% more than those thinking about their behaviour in the first-person.

As viewed from a binary thinking perspective, some of these thoughts echo being “on” while at work, and “off” while at home: A parent may have to be loud, boisterous and socially engaged while at work, yet while at home can feel free to be more reserved. Our feature on page 12 also speaks to having an “on-season” and an “off-season” for personal and business success.