Is “Fake it until you make it” Actually Good Advice?
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“Fake it until you make it”
I’ve always been troubled by this seemingly deceptive piece of advice.
In literal translation, it’s urging one to pretend like everything is okay — like you know what you’re doing — until it actually happens.
But, is appearing to be confident the same as feeling confident?
Is pretending that everything is okay the same as things actually being okay?
After all, if you can convince others that everything is okay, and that you are a confident person, then surely you can convince yourself of the same, right?
There’s no doubt that if you feel crappy on the inside, it will eventually seep through and affect how you appear on the outside.
Fashion, clothing, and accessory brands (that being said, all brands) thrive off of the mission of projecting a message to consumers that they will look and feel good by just purchasing their products.
Then again, not everyone who looks good on the outside is equally as happy on the inside — We’re learning that more and more as celebrities and those in the limelight such as internet-famous individuals are exposing the truth about their struggles with mental health and depression.
So, looking good on the outside is actually not necessarily the same as feeling good on the outside.
Or take Salespeople for example.
I wouldn’t necessarily say that they’re always lying to you — Maybe sometimes it’s just a mere stretch of the truth.
Then again, think about the whole purpose of their job — It’s to sell you things.
Similar to the brands who are marketing you a product, salespeople are also trying to convince you that you need to buy a certain product or offer, except salespeople are the ones who are actually closing the deal.
Their job is to make something sound so good, that you can’t say no.
So, of course, they are going to say or do anything in order to make that happen. Yet another case of, “fake it until you make it”.
