Fake it till you make it

Have you ever been told to ‘fake it till you make it’?

Do you remember the context? Was it about your skills or a particular circumstance? Was it about your competency in a given situation? Did someone say this at work, the gym, or in a family or friend group?

What do you think this means … ‘fake it till you make it’?

For some this is an excuse to defraud the people around you, to come across as someone or something you’re not, for their own personal gain. For others, it’s a necessary route to change an internal behaviour or character until it becomes something they are naturally able to do.

“Many of us would like to improve some element of our character or personality that we feel might be holding us back. Perhaps be more confident, disciplined or ambitious. If we can clearly identify what that is, we can start by changing (forcibly) our behavior with the goal of having it become more natural over time.” – Susan O’Brien

For me, it’s never been OK to ‘fake it to make it’. This goes against everything I believe in about the authentic and original self. Yes, OK, I get it, some people don’t feel totally 100% comfortable with who or where we are. But to fake it is to hide from it and reduce your ability to not only identify the issue but also to identify the route you need to take to be able to do something about it.

As I said in my previous post – be you. Just be you.

Photo by Daniel K Cheung on Unsplash