How to Be Mentally Strong

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Mindset Mentor – “How to Be Mentally Strong”

Host: Rob Dial
Date: January 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Rob Dial explores how self-perception, self-talk, and the way we think about ourselves fundamentally shape our reality and results. Drawing from psychological studies and real-life examples, including the influential “Batman Effect,” Rob outlines how changing the way we see and speak to ourselves can drastically increase our resilience, performance, and self-belief. The episode blends scientific research with actionable strategies, emphasizing that mastering mindset is key to mastering life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power of Self-Talk and Self-Perception

• Main Idea: The way you think and talk to yourself directly influences your actions and outcomes.
• Rob’s Take: “If you want more for yourself, you have to believe more of yourself. Your belief of yourself, your self-perception is the thing that needs to be worked on.” (12:14)

The Batman Effect Study (Children & Resilience)

[01:33 – 08:35]

• Study Design: Children aged 4–6 placed in three groups, given unsolvable puzzles:
  1. Group 1: Solved puzzles as themselves.
  2. Group 2: Asked to see themselves from the outside (self-aware/third-person perspective).
  3. Group 3: Dressed up as their favorite characters (e.g., Batman, Wonder Woman).
• Results:
  • Group 2 (self-awareness) did 13% better than Group 1.
  • Group 3 (wearing costumes) did 23% better than Group 1.
  • Group 3 demonstrated more resilience and determination during puzzles.
• Self Talk:
  • Group 1’s inner voice was mostly negative (“I can’t do this. This is too hard. I’m not smart enough.”)
  • Group 3’s inner voice changed (“Batman would never give up. Come on Dora, you got this. I believe in you.”)
  • “Based off of who they were dressed up as, how they perceived themselves and how they reacted to the challenge changed.” (07:35)
• Origin of Negativity: Children’s negative self-talk often echoes what they’ve learned from parents or environment.
  • “Where do you think they got those thoughts from? … They probably got them most likely from their parents talking to them or hearing their parents talking to themselves around them.” (05:08)
• Memorable Reflection:
  • “A baby doesn’t just stop trying to walk because it’s taking too long. They persist. They don’t know failure until someone teaches them what it is.” (06:05)

Enclothed Cognition & Adult Performance

[11:39 – 15:30]

• Definition: Changing your attire can influence your psychological state, confidence, and cognitive performance.
• Study Example (2010):
  • Adults wearing formal attire performed better on abstract thinking tasks, exhibiting heightened feelings of power and capability.
  • “Participants that had the formal attire on, that were dressed up exhibited more abstract thinking, which correlates to a heightened sense of power.” (13:04)
• Lab Coat Experiment:
  • Wearing a lab coat called a “doctor’s coat” improved sustained attention and performance; the same coat labeled as a “painter’s coat” did not have this effect.
  • “They finished in less time with less errors simply by wearing a lab coat they believed was a doctor’s coat.” (15:17)
  • The meaning we attach to clothing changes how we show up.

Practical Application: Showing Up and Alter Egos

[15:30 – 20:05]

• Work from Home Tip: Dress for the role/job you want to embody, not for comfort—don’t work in pajamas.
  • “If you wear your pajamas while working, it’s a way different vibe than if you woke up, you meditated, you got your workout in, you showered and then you got dressed.” (16:30)
• Alter Ego Effect (Todd Herman):
  • Rob shares Todd Herman’s strategy of developing alter egos for different roles (e.g., “Super Richard” for work, “Family First” for home).
  • Wearing symbolic items (e.g., glasses, wristband) helped Todd switch mindsets between roles.
  • “He would have this thing of like, okay, this is who I am. I’m a badass, hard working, don’t give a damn about rejection when I put on these glasses.” (18:40)
  • “He’s the guy who helped Kobe Bryant develop his alter ego of the Black Mamba. So clearly this guy knows what the hell he’s talking about.” (19:40)

Final Takeaway: Beliefs Shape Action

[20:05 – 21:52]

• If you believe you are not good enough, you take less action; shift your beliefs and self-talk to take bigger, better action.
• “If you just believe ‘I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough,’ you’re not going to take as much action. Study after study after study show that. But if you start shifting the way that you think about yourself and the way that you speak to yourself, all of that is going to change how you show up in the world, the actions that you take and the results that you get in your life.” (20:44)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Self-Perception:
  • “They no longer viewed themselves as a little child. They viewed themselves as the best version of themselves that they could be—their favorite superhero.” (12:06)
• On Origin of Self-Limiting Beliefs:
  • “When did you learn to give up? When did you learn what fear was? When did you learn who you were—good, bad, too loud, too much, quiet?” (05:47)
• On Dressing for Success:
  • “There’s been many studies on this… you decide to wear a suit, you get more formal… you walk a little bit different, you talk a little bit different, you have better posture…” (13:50)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:33] Introduction to topic: How thoughts and words shape reality
• [02:00–08:35] Deep dive: The Batman Effect and the power of self-talk in children
• [11:39–15:30] Enclothed cognition: How clothing changes self-perception in adults
• [15:30–20:05] Daily strategies: Dressing for the role and employing alter egos
• [20:05–21:52] Episode conclusion and action-oriented mindset advice

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Summary & Action Steps

• The way you perceive yourself and the language you use internally has a direct, measurable impact on your motivation, persistence, and performance.
• Adopt new self-talk and rituals (like changing attire or adopting an alter ego) to embody more powerful beliefs about yourself.
• Challenge old programming (from parents, childhood, or environment) and make conscious shifts in how you speak to yourself and show up each day.

Host’s Challenge:
Start noticing your self-talk and experiment with small shifts—whether through clothes, self-perception, or an alter ego—to see how it changes your mindset and results.

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For more actionable advice, register for Rob Dial’s free two-day live workshop at 2026workshop.com.

Transcript

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Welcome to today's episode of the Mind Mentor Podcast. I'm your host Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another episode. And if you want 2026 to be the best year of your life, I'm running a free two day live workshop on how to build yourself into a High performer January 14th and 15th. To learn more about it and register for free, go to 2026workshop.com Once again, 2026workshop.com Today we're going to be talking about how your thoughts and your words shape your reality. But today's episode I'm actually going to show you an example, actually a couple of examples that show you how the way that you speak to yourself, the way that you think about yourself actually shows the results that you're going to get in your life. And there's a One of my favorite studies about this is a study that's called the Batman effect. And so the Batman effect was a study that they did on children a few years ago that were between 4 years old and 6 years old. And they took these children and they put them into three different groups. One of the group, all they did was they just walked into a room and they did puzzles. And just so you know, these puzzles were unsolvable. So they poor children, right? They put these children into a room.

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That's group one. Group two, they put them into the room to do puzzles, but what they said to them is, try to see yourself doing them from outside of yourself. So they taught them basically about what it would look like to look at yourself from a third person. So basically looking at yourself with more self awareness is what they were teaching the children. So that was group number two and then group number three. They had them do the puzzles. But before they did the puzzles, they had to pick a costume of their favorite costume that they wanted to wear. So one of them was a Batman cape. Another one was a Wonder Woman outfit. Another one was Dora the Explorer. Another one was their favorite Disney princess. And so they had them go in, dressed up to see if maybe things change if they were dressed up as their favorite character. So group one, which was they just put them into the room and said, hey, do puzzles, did the worst out of all three groups. Group two, which was the group that looked at themselves with more self awareness, did 13% better than group number one. And so it's this idea of like self distancing. They basically looked at themselves from outside of themselves. And because they were, in a way, watching themselves, they decided to work a little bit more and go a little bit further. Group three did 23% better than group number one. And that was the best one. And they found out that group three, the ones that were dressed up as Batman or Dora the Explorer, their favorite Disney princess, were more resilient and more diligent in trying to solve the problems. Group one, the children actually gave up really quickly that they were surprised with. And what they ended up finding out, and this is a really interesting part of the study, is that the children, their self talk while they were quote, unquote, failing and not figuring this out was mostly negative. So children listen to this. Between four to six years old, their self talk was mostly negative. So they would be doing it and they weren't solving the problem. And they would say stuff like, I can't do this or this is too hard, or I'm not smart enough or I'M not old enough to get this. Now let's take a real quick step back. Right? Okay. They're children between 4 and 6 years old. Where do you think that they got those thoughts from of? I can't do this, it's too hard, I'm not smart enough, I'm not old enough to do this. Do you think those are the thoughts that just popped into their heads or do you think maybe they got them from somewhere? Yeah, they probably got them most likely from their parents talking to them or hearing their parents talking to themselves around them. And so without the self awareness of them having to watch themselves like group two, the children were basically on autopilot, which means that they were working from their unconscious programming. So what what I mean by that is they were working from what they have seen other people do and what they have seen other people say about themselves. And they were working from what they have been told from other people as well. Now think about this for a second. Once again, this is children between 4 to 6 years old. They say that your full self identity is not even built fully until you're about 7 years old. When did you learn to give up? Like when did you learn what fear was? When did you learn what to fear? When did you learn who you were? Good, bad, too loud, too much, quiet, Good boy, good girl, Whatever it might have been like. Let me give you a real quick example. Does a baby decide to stop walking because it's taking too long to get it? I've never heard the story of the baby who decided to just stop walking and stop trying. No, they persist. They don't understand language yet, so they don't understand their parents words around them. So they don't understand what failure means. They don't know what it means to give up. Now the cool thing is when the children are seeing themselves from outside of their self, so they're seeing it from an outsider's perspective. It's almost as if they're being watched so they want to do better. So most of them are now becoming more self aware. They're more self aware, they're watching themselves versus just running off of programs. They're not running off of old programming and whatever they might have been taught from their parents or from brothers or sisters. And the coolest thing about this is the children that were wearing the costumes, their self talk and the way they spoke to themselves out loud actually changed. So instead of the children saying something like group one, which is like I can't do this, this is too hard, I'm not smart enough, they said things out loud to themselves like Batman would never give up. Come on Dora, you got this. I believe in you. And so what's really interesting about the whole thing is based off of the way they were dressed, number one, their perception of themselves changed and number two, their self talk actually changed. Group one children gave up pretty quickly. But group three, some of the children, they had to pull away from trying the puzzles because they weren't giving up. They were telling themselves I'm not giving up. And so they had to pull some of those children away based off of who they were dressed up as, how they perceived themselves and how they reacted to the challenge changed based off of the way they were dressed. And we will be right back. Now that the holidays are over, you.

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And now back to the show. So what's the most important part of this whole thing? The most important part of the study is self perception. And when self perception changed, self talk changed. And when both of those change, their actions change. And when actions change, guess what happens? Results change. They no longer viewed themselves as a little child. They viewed themselves as the best version of themselves that they could be their favorite superhero. So that begs the question, what do you believe of yourself? Because what you believe of you and yourself will be your absolute max of what you can achieve. If you want more for yourself, you have to believe more of yourself. Your belief of yourself, your self perception is the thing that needs to be worked on. And so this whole study created something that they realize that changes about people, which is called enclosed cognition. So it created this, this study, this basically this bucket of psychology of enclosed cognition, which is great, it works on kids, but how does this relate to adults? Well, I'm so glad that you asked. There was, there's now been a bunch of studies on adults of enclosed cognition. And there was a study that was done called the Influence of clothes on cognitive processes in 2010. And the study looked at how uniform clothing affects cognitive processing. And so it particularly looked on how it impacts feelings of your power and control. And so their methodology was basically this. Participants were asked to wear formal business attire, or another group was asked to wear casual clothing. And what they did was they had them complete tasks that assess their abstract thinking. And abstract thinking is a measure that is linked to a sense of power. And so the results were pretty interesting. Participants that had the formal attire on, that were dressed up exhibited more abstract thinking, which correlates to a heightened sense of power. They think higher of themselves. They subconsciously or maybe even consciously viewed themselves differently based off of what it is that they were wearing. So it's not just the Batman outfit. It's also, for some people, formal attire. And so consciously or subconsciously, these people viewed themselves differently based off of the way that they were dressed. I knew we've all had this before, right? You decide that you're going to go to a nicer thing. Maybe you're taking your. It's Valentine's Day and you're going to take your wife out and you decide to wear a suit, you decide to put on a tie and you get more formal. Or maybe you go to a wedding and you look at yourself in the mirror and it's something that you haven't worn in a while, and you're like, shit, I look pretty good. And you think you're looking good, you walk a little bit different, you talk a little bit different, you have better posture, you put your shoulders back more, you don't lean over as much. There's been many studies on this. There's the original study that was done like on enclosed cognition, was, was called enclosed cognition. And the study, what they actually did was they were trying to figure out if a lab coat would affect the way that somebody reacted and the way they participated. And so what they have is they, they were looking like, hey, if we bring a lab coat in, will it affect the participants attention? And the researchers performed several different experiences where the attire was changed. And so what they did was experiment one, they had participants wear a lab coat. And they describe the lab coat. This is the important part of it, of a doctor's coat. And when they, they had a lab coat that was called a doctor's coat, the people who wore it had increased sustained attention compared to those who were wearing regular street clothes. So it's really interesting. If somebody just walks off the street, they're just themselves. But if they put a lab coat on. They think to themselves, oh, I'm a lab coat, I'm dressing up like a doctor. It showed increased, sustained attention. So they had more attention while they were going through these experiments. That was experiment one, Experiment two. This is a part of the study that divided participants a little bit more into two groups. So one wore the same lab coat, but they were told it was a painter's coat. It's the same coat, but. But they were told that, hey, go ahead and put this painter's coat on. And then another group wore the exact same lab coat, but they described it once again as a doctor's coat. And those that were wearing the doctor's coat made significantly fewer errors on attention demanding tasks. The test was called a Stroop test than those that were dressed up as a painter. They finished in less time with less errors simply by wearing a lab coat. And the participants who wore a coat that was described as a doctor's coat showed better attentional focus than those who wore one that was described as a painter's coat. It's the same coat, but it has different meaning. And this is, I coach this a lot, like I coach a lot of business owners. And this is one of the reasons why I tell people, like a lot of people work from home. I tell people if you work from home, you have to, have to, have to go through your morning routine, get a workout in, do your meditation, whatever it is, your coffee, I don't really care what your morning routine is, but then make sure that you shower and get dressed as if you're going to work. If you wear your pajamas while working, it's a way different vibe than if you woke up, you meditated, you got your workout in, you showered and then you got dressed. It's this feeling of, I'm showering, I'm going to work. Like most people, if you're wearing pajamas, pajamas don't really seem to be the most, I don't know, focused outfit to wear. The most productive outfit to wear. Like, nobody just walks. If you work at Google, you don't just drive into Google wearing your pajamas. No, you're going to wake up, hopefully you're going to get showered, you're going to get dressed. And it's this feeling of like, I'm showing up for work. And if you wear PJs, you're mentally, you haven't closed out the act of sleeping, you haven't moved on to another chapter. You never show up to the office in your pajamas. So don't do it at home. You Know, and this is another thing that I spoke about them before, but my friend Todd Herman wrote a book called the Alter Ego Effect. And he talks about the difference of when he's going to work, he dresses differently. When he's going to hang out with his family, he dresses differently. And he talks about it in his book called the Alter Ego Effect of Developing an Alter Ego. So when he sits down to work, he puts on glasses. And this is something that he did years ago when he was younger, where he was not confident. And he realized, if I'm a, he was a professional speaker, if I'm a professional speaker, I've got to be able to make cold calls. I got to be able to sell my services to people. And he would have this list that he needed to make cold calls to. And he was just not doing it, not doing it, not doing it. And he's like, you know what? I'm going to stop being Todd for a little while. I'm going to develop an alter ego. And Todd's middle name is Richard. So he developed Super Richard is what he called it. And Super Richard was a different person to him. He was badass, he was hard working. He didn't care about rejection because when he first started his business, he was shy. He didn't want to make cold calls. And so he said, when I put on these glasses, and these are glasses that no joke, are non prescriptive glasses, they're just literally glasses. He puts them on, he says, okay, I'm going to be Super Richard. And he imagines himself bodying, embodying three people that he really looks up to. Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Campbell, and Superman. And he realized when he was Super Richard, he didn't give a damn if he got rejected because Todd didn't get rejected. Richard got rejected. And so he had this thing of like, okay, this is who I am. I'm a badass, hard working, don't give a damn about rejection when I put on these glasses. What he realized, though, once he had a family, was that he didn't want to bring Super Richard home to his children. And so what he would do, and now he works from home. And this is exactly what he does when he's done with working, he closes out work. He doesn't want to be that person at home. So he has, right outside of his office or right at the inside of his office door, he has a wristband that he puts on and it says something like family first. And so what he does is he takes off his glasses, his super richer glasses. He puts him down, he's done with work. He puts on his wristband and he imagines himself embodying the personalities of two people who he really looks up to that he wants to be like with his children. Number one is his father. He said he had one of the best fathers ever. He was amazing. And number two is Mr. Rogers. So he's like, when I put on this wristband, I imagine myself embodying Mr. Rogers and my father. And so now you can sit there for a second, be like, well, that's goofy. What does this guy know about developing alter egos? Well, he's the guy who told and helped Kobe Bryant develop his alter ego of the black Mamba. So clearly this guy knows what the hell he's talking about. And so really, what it comes down to and what's super important about this whole thing is what do you believe in yourself? You know, if you just believe I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough, you're not going to take as much action. Study after study after study show that. But if you start shifting the way that you think about yourself and the way that you speak to yourself, all of that is going to change how you show up in the world, the actions that you take and the results that you get in your life. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share it with someone that you love so we can impact their life as well. And if you want to make 2026 the year of your life that changes the entire course of your life, I'm running a free two day live workshop on how to build yourself into somebody who is a high performer for this year and the rest of your life. 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