“Fake it till you Make it” The High-Earner’s Paradise

Everyone has heard of “fake it till you make it,” and unfortunately, there is no “be real to stay real” version of the quote. But is that such a bad thing? We all have to start somewhere to get somewhere else. You don’t start with experience, which can be a daunting fact; only some can accept it without feeling the nervous breakdown of a perfectionist’s mindset.

There are guilty feelings that go hand in hand with starting something new. You get imposter syndrome or anxiety from not doing it perfectly the first time; your confidence gets rocked and you start doubting yourself. Let me tell you, that’s unnecessary. Plenty of dummies and underachievers do the same tasks and never let themselves believe those same negative thoughts. Why is that? 

The Fake it till you Make it Model

No actor ever got a role just because they believed they deserved it. No business owner ever started a business because they believed they could run one. No salesman ever made a sale because they believed in their skills.

That’s poppycock.

Half of “fake it till you make it” is about believing you already have all the information to succeed. There is an element of working hard, we can’t forget that, but I’m going to be honest, imposter syndrome never really goes away. You can gain more information, practice many more times, but high-achievers are prone to feeling adversely against themselves.

Where do my expectations go if I lower them?

Success is an illusion, and you shouldn’t hesitate to go after it. 

“But wait, how does that help me? If success is an illusion, why would I go after it?”

Success is only an illusion because of the people who define it. I’ve heard countless stories of people saying, I’ll finally be successful once I do this or once I get there, but success isn’t defined by a certain factor in the journey of your life. You can wake up each morning, already satisfied with where you are. There is nothing out there that would make you happy and fulfilled, you already have everything you need to feel that way.

That satisfaction and happiness comes from enjoying your journey and having the confidence to brave whatever you face.

How do you settle those debts of doubt within yourself so you can level up? 

Use your skills to improvise a solution. Eventually, you’ll get a grasp on how to accomplish tasks “the right way”, but starting by winging it and using what you already have will give you results and the confidence to accomplish the next one.

You gain real proficiency through practice. Not having everything figured out is an opportunity to learn something new and give yourself a fresh place to start.

Confidence isn’t about understanding your strengths and avoiding your weaknesses. It’s about turning your weaknesses into strengths. 

What if there is someone out there better than me? 

News flash! Just because someone is better at a task or job title than you doesn’t make them “better than you”. Give yourself some credit, not having the same amount of experience as someone else doesn’t make you less than or essentially nonexistent, it just means you have some catching up to do. Don’t get into a fantasy competition with someone else because you’re feeling inadequate. In the game of life, we all go home with participation medals.

Although faking it is a viable solution for being unsure, it’s important to continue learning more about what you’re aiming to achieve and to ask questions when you get involved in something new.

What is Faking It and How do you do it?

Now that we’ve gotten all of the BS out of the way, let’s get into what you actually came here for. Some real advice. The philosophy “fake it till you make it” is based on Aristotle’s idea that if “you act virtuous, you become virtuous”. 

Clearly, Aristotle never heard of hypocrisy, but we won’t get into that. 

The idea is essentially to assimilate to who you want to be because you can’t know everything when you’re just learning something new. If you’re doing something you want to get good at, you need to convince yourself you’re much better at it than you think. If you follow a role model or create a persona that embodies your goals, you’ll have an easier time acclimating to the new information.

The 4 stages of “good grief I’m starting something new”:

Now if there was a magic switch to go from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence, I’d have flipped it years ago. Unfortunate as it may be, though, there is a beauty to experience all 4 stages. 

Unconscious Incompetence:

Gives you the courage to start. 

Nobody has it figured out and if you wait until you’re ready, you’ll never get it done. Unconscious competence has no biases, and let’s you complete tasks (even if they’re horrendously done) because it has no expectations or a scale to compare to. 

Conscious Incompetence:

Keep yourself out of the scarcity mindset in this stage.

You are seeing all the flaws in this stage, but have patience and give yourself grace. This is the part where you get to refine and define what needs to happen so you can get better. This can be the toughest stage if you let it be.

Conscious Competence:

Most people don’t even realize they’ve arrived at the stage. Some have never fully embraced this stage. They continue to self-criticize and beat the dead horse until it’s broken.

What a magical place, you can see the improvement, even if your mind is tricking you into not believing it. You’ve grown and gotten to a place where you can recognize what you’re good at and what you need to work on more. Take advantage and make a note of what you’re struggling with so you can keep improving.

Unconscious Competence:

It helps you develop a form of self-confidence.

You are unaware of how drastically you’ve changed. You can be a total expert at this stage, and most don’t notice until they see someone else struggling where they started. You may want to say “it’s easy,” but don’t disregard the effort it took to get to this stage. You made it here with hardwork and believing in yourself.

Are You Ready to Fake it Till You Make it?

“Fake it till you make it” isn’t a lazy man’s scheme, it’s not even a manipulation tactic, as much as the rise and grind bros would like to make it seem.

It’s a viable and temporary solution to getting over that anxiety so you can try a new activity and finally achieve all the success you’ve been dreaming of. It’s more than just establishing yourself as an expert in your choice of interest, it’s about giving yourself the confidence to accomplish your tasks and level up your skill set. If you can identify what’s holding you back, you can try behaving like the person you want to be. Adopt the behaviors you wish to achieve in your daily life and watch as you become the person you never thought you were capable of before.