The Act As If Strategy

“Fake it until you make it” is terrible advice.

Here’s why:

You are creating a mindset that you are pretending. And when you repeatedly pretend to do something, it isn’t part of who you are. You aren’t necessarily improving. It is not real. You are not owning it. You are not claiming the thing you are pretending as part of your identity.

Here’s why that is a problem. We become what we believe we are. And we become what we practice. We evolve and make progress by being in a learner or beginner mindset. Telling yourself you are faking it is not a learning mindset. Faking it is not claiming that thing as part of yourself and your identity evolution.

In addition, faking anything is stressful as hell and emotionally draining. It is not conducive to mastering something new or developing what you want to achieve.  

Here’s a better alternative:

Act as if.

Here’s what I mean by that.

Acting as if is how you turn something into reality. You are repeatedly practicing something that you want to become or learn.  And it is only through intentional, repeated practice that we become accomplished at anything.

Practicing something is claiming it as part of your identity from the get-go, even though it is a work in progress. You are not faking it. You are just a beginner and learner.

Think of it this way. If you want to learn to play the guitar, you don’t tell yourself you are going to fake being a guitar player until you can do it masterfully. You tell yourself you are learning guitar. You act as if you are a beginner guitar player. You know you are learning. You tell yourself that. You focus on practicing specific skills.

As a result, you make progress. You improve. You become a better guitar player the more you practice. But you are still a guitar player from the get-go. You aren’t faking anything.

The same applies to anything you want to learn or become, personally or professionally. Act as if. Take those first steps. Adopt a beginner's or learner's mindset. It will serve you better than a “fake it until you make it” mindset.

Be OK with taking imperfect action because progress, improvement, and learning anything is a process.   

Act as if. Stop telling yourself you will fake it until you make it. It isn’t the best way to set yourself up to succeed. Claim the thing you want to accomplish as part of your evolving identity from the get-go.

No one becomes masterful at anything by telling themselves they are faking it.

Act….as….if.