Impersonation vs Embodiment

One of my favorite shirts growing up was a bright blue Nike T-shirt that read: “I Don’t Play Soccer” on the front, “I Live It” on the back. A little dramatic, I know. Also, unsurprisingly dramatic for a middle schooler. Perhaps you can relate.. 

Needless to say, there’s a difference between impersonating a role and embodying one.

While there’s no substitute for the experience necessary to exercise mastery in a role – and accordingly, demonstrate embodiment, there’s a broader spectrum to explore with respect to impersonation – particularly in determining what’s ethically acceptable versus unacceptable. After all, mastery takes years to develop! And part of being a human being is repeatedly trying on, exploring, and building competency in new roles – not just once or twice, but across a lifetime. So extending patience & compassion to those developing in any arena isn’t really a suggestion here; it’s necessary.

Of course, context matters. Let’s say, for example, we’re talking adult intramural football. You pretending to be Jerry Rice when you’ve never caught a ball a day in your life – relatively harmless. One the other hand, you pretending to be a competent heart surgeon because you “watch a lot of medical shows,” and then (in some alternate universe) performing heart surgery on a live human being – NOT OKAY.

Shakespeare fan or not, you’ve likely heard the quote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” 

To simplify it in my own words – yo, we’re all just playing games. (Forgive me, Will.) To add additional subtext: if you’re trying to play a role to the best of your ability, it probably pays to intensify your belief that you are whatever you’re playing.

 One of the most remarkable findings of modern psychology is the extraordinary capacity of human beings to mold the evidence to fit their beliefs rather than the other way around. Put another way – it is our capacity to believe in spite of the evidence and sometimes in spite of our other deeply held beliefs. Why does this matter and how does this relate to training at DEUCE? To take another page out of Matthew Syed’s book Bounce – “it is this capacity, more than any other, which – psychologically speaking – distinguishes top athletes from the rest.”

Moral of the story: conviction matters. Whatever you do today – live it.