More Mindset: Why I Recoil from "Fake It 'Til You Make It"
And what you can use instead
Welcome to my first ever post for my paying supporters! I’m thankful for your faith.
Last night, I helmed a mindset training session for my friend
’s excellent Substack group, . If you’re a creative person who’s looking for tools, ideas and people to lift your thinking and warm your heart, that’s your place.The session was about overcoming inner resistance and gaining direct access to your creativity. I included some self-awareness training, three instant mindset change tools and a guided hypnosis to finish. If you join Suzy’s Substack for even a month, you’ll have access to the recording – I was delighted that several people had major ah-ha! moments.
Fakery
One of the topics that came up was the idea of “fake it 'til you make it”, meaning that if you don't yet have a particular feeling, behaviour or skill, you can pretend you do until your mind accepts it as real.
There's a scientific case for doing this. Repetition creates a neural pathway in the brain, which can help to install the feeling or behaviour you want to acquire. If, at the same time, you apply emotional energy to that repetition – in other words, pretend to feel “up” emotions like enthusiasm, excitement or curiosity – it can help to strengthen those pathways. Our brains really are miracles of plasticity.
But I just can’t do “fake it ‘til you make it”.
At least, not this way. It’s the word “fake”. My mind recoils from it, and I bet I'm not the only one.
As mentioned on my About page, one of my highest values is HONOUR (we covered values in a ‘Something More’ workshop here). To me, honour means being truthful, respectful of myself and others and behaving with integrity. The idea of faking it, regardless of the evidence that it can be an effective way to gain confidence and new skills, makes me queasy. Mind says “no”!
But… I can’t deny that being able to train our brains with this technique is useful.