We've all heard the old adage, "Fake it til you make it." This idea of projecting confidence even if you aren't feeling it yet. Enough practice and putting yourself out there; eventually, you'll become confident in whatever you're doing.
There are people both for and against this strategy, but with many saying that it works, it's well worth looking into if you're living with low self-esteem or a general lack of the charisma and outgoingness you may wish you had.
However, faking it doesn't mean blind overconfidence with no substance behind it. To turn "faking it" into "making it," you need intentional personal growth and skills acquisition over time. The right balance of confidence, honest self-assessment, and continual improvement is key.
At MentorCruise, our career mentors help people just like you boost their confidence. This opens the doors for opportunities, allowing them to progress in their careers.
In the blog post, we'll uncover:
- What "fake it until you make it" is
- Benefits of using a "fake it until you make it" strategy
- How to use "fake it until you make it" effectively
What is Fake It Until You Make It?
The phrase "fake it until you make it" means projecting confidence, capability, and poise even if you aren't quite feeling it yet. It's about displaying the attitude and mindset of someone further along in their career or skillset - acting "as if" you already are where you aspire to be.
However, this means you're actively putting yourself in positions and acting like you're already where you want to be. This "acting" gives you both the skills and experience to become who you want and to start acting like that all the time.
Examples of Fake It Until You Make It
To understand this further, here are some "fake it until you make it" examples:
- Applying for a senior engineering role only requires 3-5 years of experience. You lack some qualifications but are willing to learn and grow in the role.
- Volunteering to lead a presentation on emerging tech trends even if you don't consider yourself an expert yet. You are eager to develop that skill set.
- Acting assured and polished in a job interview for a management position before you've formally managed people. You convey the mindset of a confident leader.
The key is displaying confidence in your abilities before you necessarily feel that confidence entirely - but being willing to put in the work to develop yourself to back it up.
Benefits of Faking It Until You Make It
Adopting a "fake it til you make it" mindset can provide essential benefits for advancing your career, whatever industry you're in.
Here's why:
- Opportunity: It opens up opportunities that may have seemed out of reach before. Rather than waiting until you feel 100% qualified, you put yourself out there for stretch roles, projects, and responsibilities that will accelerate your growth.
- Skill Development: You'll gain exposure to technologies, skills, and experiences you likely wouldn't in your regular role. This allows you to rapidly develop new competencies.
- Expectation Setting: Displaying confidence sets an expectation that you are capable and ready for more responsibility. This makes managers more likely to entrust you with more critical tasks.
Remember, balancing faked confidence with humility, self-awareness, and a strong work ethic is key. Only the right amount of "faking" paired with drive can fast-track your career.
How to Fake It Until You Make It
Well, the honest strategy is just to "do it." We know that sounds lame, but it's really the best advice we can give.
When you feel you want to speak up or have something to say, or there's an opportunity you want to get involved in, but fears and doubts creep in, stop for a moment. Acknowledge the fear or doubt.
Acknowledge that you feel unconfident in taking that opportunity or action. Then, simply envision how you would want to respond if you had all the confidence you needed, and then simply do that.
If that means raising your hand and sharing your opinion, then do it. Sure, you might mess up, and you might not get it exactly right, but this is the kind of practice that will lead to you being naturally confident and in control down the line.
9 Tips on Faking It Until You Make It
1. Visualization and Affirmations
Visualize yourself excelling in the situation before it happens. Picture presenting flawlessly, acing the interview, exuding credibility. Speak affirmations aloud to cement the vision. Hearing yourself express confidence out loud builds belief.
2. Power Poses and Breathing Techniques
Before a high-stakes situation like an interview or presentation, use power poses - arms overhead in a V-shape, hands on hips, taking up space. Deep breathing helps, too.
3. Preparation and Practice
Thorough preparation is also key. Know your talking points cold. Arrive early to get comfortable in the space. If you don't have time to practice or you're in a fast moment, just stand up tall, shoulders back, and take deep breaths. Stop fidgeting with your hands and just relax.
4. Modeling Confident Figures
Who do you admire in your field? What makes them ooze confidence and credibility? How would they handle this situation? Envision what they would say and how they would carry themselves. Act as they would, channeling their energy. Fake it by modeling those you view as successful.
5. Skill and Experience Development
With practice, these techniques help instill real inner confidence. However, you must continue working diligently to develop the skills and knowledge needed for long-term success. Consistently "making it" requires turning faked confidence into earned confidence over time.
6. Active Skill Building
Now, contrary to popular belief, faking it til you make it doesn't just work by pure luck. It's faking; it is basically acting, and that alone won't get you to where you want to be in life.
Remember, it's about developing your skills and experience as a confident person who will get results, and this means you need to put in the work behind the scenes.
7. Developing Soft Skills
Beyond concrete skills, build knowledge in your industry and develop critical soft skills like communication, emotional intelligence, collaboration ability, executive presence, and more. These allow you to grow into leadership roles.
8. Balancing Confidence with Real Skill
You may get opportunities by "faking" confidence, but you must pair that with diligent skill-building and continuous improvement to truly advance. Stretch yourself, but stay grounded in consistently developing your capabilities.
9. Handling Setbacks
Of course, as we've said before, there will be times when faking it just doesn't work out. You'll mess up here and there. Everyone does in life.
Maybe you'll make a promise you can't keep. Perhaps a project is far more complicated than you first thought. Maybe you did something wrong. That's all okay.
It's going to happen. However, it doesn't always have to happen - not when you're minimizing the risk and playing an intelligent game.
Risks of Faking It Until You Make It
Though faking it until you make it sounds great, there are some risks to watch out for.
It's fine to highlight strengths and project confidence in areas you're working to grow. But never outright lie or exaggerate your skills or achievements. Being caught in lies will tank your credibility.
Taking on challenges that stretch your skills is good. Jumping into roles massively beyond your experience sets you up for failure. Don't bite off more than you can chew.
Balance self-confidence with honest self-awareness. Know where you truly excel and where you have more work to do. Identify gaps in your skills to guide your development.
Faking competence you don't have yet is not helpful in the long term. However, calculated confidence paired with motivation and humility can spark growth.
Ready to "Fake It Until You Make It?"
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Our top professionals in the industry can help you balance confidence with skill-building, set achievable goals, and prepare for success. Get matched with a mentor today and make your aspirations a reality.