It's a trendy, albeit not new, idea popping up in several different blogs I read, from financial to spiritual matters: fake it 'til you make it, pretending you're already successful is an important part of becoming successful. I can't help but think that this philosophy might serve a blogger or a motivational speaker or a self-help book author, but I don't particularly want my surgeon or pilot or software developer or electrician having that mindset - unrealistic confidence could likely lead to disasters. The bloggers who are flying airplanes or building houses or dissecting zoo animals aren't repeating this saying. I think the bloggers with predominantly social skills are letting things get to their heads.
Interesting -- I've always interpreted the phrase slightly differently. When I hear it, I think of starting a job or new venture that you don't really know how to do, then "faking it" in the sense of experimenting and making things up as you go along -- rather than in the sense of lying about anything -- until eventually you figure it out.
Not a couple of hours ago I was talking to a friend of mine who just today got his commercial pilots license. His strategy (which ultimately worked for him) was to act super confident in his abilities so much that the testing officer believed his confidence. He did actually know it so wasn't really "faking" anything, but the idea of putting on confidence beyond that you feel isn't always a bad one.
Carry a clipboard. Anyone with a clipboard must be doing something important, so they will be treated as such. BTW Ann Hathaway is looking over my shoulder as I write this, and wants to assure everyone on WF that she doesn't "fake it" when I give her thunderous epic orgasms on a semi-daily basis.
I've heard this before, mainly with sales and marketing folks, and there does appear to be some truth to it. I've got a buddy who owns an insurance brokerage. At one point he was doing okay, but not great. Then a mentor told him to start faking it; upgrade the wardrobe, the car, the watches. He did and it worked big time. Got another buddy in sales for ADT. He did the same thing and his sales took off. From what I've been told and and have seens people are more likely to purchase goods and services from someone who looks successful.
Even a surgeon or a pilot is going to have their first solo surgery/flight sometime. You can't scare the shit out of your patient or passengers, so basically your options are to fake the confidence or let the stress and fear win.
Yup, fake confidence enough and soon as it starts to become real. That, and no longer fearing failure, are key to getting ahead.
You don't take your first solo flights with passengers and you don't perform your first operations on living humans: the confidence you have to make it the first time you actually do those things with other people must not be fake or else you (or your passengers/patient) will not survive. The issue doesn't seem to be so much that you should be encouraged to pretend to be competent so much as you should stop automatically pretending to be incompetent when you are in fact capable.
I never interpreted that phrase to mean that you should fake the competence. You're supposed to be faking the confidence. Huge difference. Your first patient or passengers will survive as long as you're competent. That doesn't mean you won't be scared shitless. I always thought that the point of the saying is that some things absolutely require your clients to have trust in you, and you can't tell someone "Well, this is my first solo heart surgery, but I'll do my best!"
That's creepy to me. Confidence is just a feeling. Faking feelings you don't have is for movies. I'd rather give off detachment when I'm unsure of success. People don't tend to like that, but too bad. Better a weirdo than a liar.
“There were all kinds of things I was afraid of at first, ranging from grizzly bears to ‘mean’ horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid.” -Theodore Roosevelt. Similar concept.
I'm open to it being a failing on my part. Maybe I'm supposed to enjoy being a liar, maybe "normal", humans are supposed take to it like a bee to a flower, and I've got a defect. It's certainly possible.
It is a peculiar weakness of human emotions that self-deception is often required in order to perform to the best of one's ability.
Is it really "lies" though? I assume most surgeons have some level of fear holding a person's life in their hands while performing the surgery, but I can't say it would make me feel really comfortable as a patient to see this fear or detect any misgivings they may be feeling before I put my life in their hands. My latest surgeon was very shy and I saw her assistants more than her...but she is amazing and super competent and has probably saved my life. I think she does this so patients don't mistake her natural shyness with fear or dislike or any other negative connotations. I don't think psychological "tricks" to boost one's confidence or competence is a bad thing unless they start drifting into the realm of deluding oneself. I certainly wouldn't want a surgeon who has convinced himself he can perform a heart surgery when he has no experience to back it up for example.
In real cases it depends. But bumper-sticker jargon like "fake it 'til you make it"? Yeah, probably bullshit.
Don't mistake Internet bravado for the kind of inner pep talk we all have to give ourselves from time to time. "Do I have the talent?" "Check." "Do I have the experience?" "Not yet, but I have the talent, and if I do this often enough, I'll have the experience." "Can I persuade them to give me a shot?" It's your answer to the last one that actually gives you the shot. Otherwise you're stuck in Portland whining about how you "coulda been somebody."
When it comes to anything involving mechanics, no. I'm not in favor of that. When it comes to the arts, who fucking cares. You could get a four year old to fling paint at a canvas, and provided you frame it the right way, you'll have hipster cocksuckers proclaiming it as profound.
Yeah, says the writer -- who has read the stories about writers going out of their way to write awful, horrible crap only to have it lauded by critics who thought the absurd was profound just because of who it came from. So yeah, damn right, says the writer.
Why? Son, my soul bleeds acid like the Xenomorph. I, for one, am immune. It's you all who should be running at my soul with band-aids. Which will be rebuffed with a sneer and a twirl of the mustache.
Similar concept: When I was in retail, I found that even if I got to work tired and not wanting to talk to anyone, within about 10 minutes of faking a good mood and being outgoing and nice to everyone, I actually started to feel much more energetic and friendly.
Flow's uncle is one of the bigger realtors in a big college town. He is a proponent of making oneself look more successful than you are. It certainly seems to work for him.
