I have to admit I never really understood the saying ‘fake it until you make it’. I mean really understood it. Or appreciated it. For some reason it always needled me. "How could being a fraud be a good thing?" I asked while scratching my head and raising an eyebrow. Except today, as I finally figured it out.
The dark side of ‘faking it’
The only aspect of ‘faking it’ that I don’t like is the implication that you need to put on a mask to be able to get ahead. To project as something you’re not to succeed. It’s this perspective that didn't sit well with me. I know that being any less than who you really are is not the way to ‘make it’. Faking who you are is a false economy. There’s always a cost even if you’re not aware of it today.
Oh, I hear you say “it’s worked for others”.
You continue, “they did well that way, so can I”.
Ok, let’s explore that further.
When faking it can be a trap
Sure you can fake it by copying others and get a result. You might be someone who makes a great living by faking it and have achieved great financial success in the process. There is only an issue with this if you find yourself trapped. You probably know the expression that someone had all ‘the trappings of success’. The only way it’s a trap if you use your success to validate you. There’s nothing wrong with money, a high powered job, a fancy car or two, a collection of Jimmy Choos, the latest ‘it’ bag or whatever you fancy, unless (and it’s a huge unless) you feel trapped by your belongings or situation.
If you’re ‘successful’ and yet feel trapped the test to check whether you’re faking it is pretty simple. It tends to surface first as the imposter syndrome. Let me qualify that so you know I don’t mean you’re an imposter – I’d never suggest that! I mean that you are likely to be doing some work that you don’t truly believe in. Just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should. For example, although you can clean your house doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay someone else to do it for you. You can do, and are capable of, many things in life outside of the work you get paid or choose to do. That’s not the point.
The point is whether the work you’re doing is authentically what energises you and want to do. The question of capability doesn’t enter into the picture. Do you remember the Coca-Cola slogan of ‘The Real Thing’? The Coca-Cola company learnt just because they could create the ‘New Coke’ didn’t mean they should. The market told them they had created an imposter. That New Coke wasn’t ‘the real thing’ and it didn’t taste the same. That was the hard truth and everyone knew it. Coca-Cola paid a very expensive price in the process. So whether you can see it or not, other people can always spot a fake.
The ‘faking it’ test
Ask yourself these questions:
- Does the work you do feel perfectly suited to you? What aspects of your role come easy to you?
- Do you get excited by the work that you do?
- Do you feel other people believe you’re a natural at what you do?
To answer these questions you have to go beyond how things look on the surface to everyone else. It’s easy to wear a mask. Most $2 shops sell them. This is really about how you feel inside. It’s a soul thing. You can’t buy that off the shelf and hide behind it. That’s what authenticity requires, leaving the mask behind. When you answer yes to all questions you know you’re not wearing a mask.
The real purpose to ‘faking it’
Faking it really is just a helpful process. The one caveat is - that you understand it’s a process only, not the destination. When you consider faking it as doing the work then it does make sense. If you do the work, whatever work you do, you’ll eventually get better at it. When you do the work over and over you’re building your experience muscle. With enough repeat experience the work that you used to fake moves to become second nature to you. Nike knew this with their catch cry ‘Just Do It’. Priceless. So when ‘faking it’ is a synonym for having experiences and doing the work, it’s a great place to start if you want to make it.
The important point to understand about faking it is: it’s where you start until you build your understanding of yourself. All experts started somewhere. Your aim is to move from faking it (not knowing who you are) to making it (knowing who you are).
*Article first appeared on LinkedIn 10 November 2015
