Fake it tll you make it

"Fake it till you make it" (also called "act as if") is a common catchphrase that means to imitate confidence so that as the confidence produces success, it will generate real confidence. The purpose is to avoid getting stuck in a self fulfilling prophecy related to one's fear of not being confident.

A conversation I had today with my mentor at work:

Me:  I don't like this project I'm on, it's boring, and I don't want to do it.

Mentor:  I know what you mean, I've been there many times.

Me:  How do I get through it?

Mentor:  You fake it till you make it.

Me:  Really?

Mentor:  Yes, really, It's all about your attitude. If you walk into your kickoff meeting down about the project, bored, not excited, everyone will see it. Even if you're not feeling good about it, you have to fake it. Fake that you want to do this project, fake that it's a great project. Your enthusiasm will be contagious.

Me:  I don't know if I can do that, pretend I want to do something I really don't want to do.

Mentor:  Sure you can, just go in there and do it.

I did. She was right. The enthusiasm spread. No one knew I was totally bummed by my project. Now I'm actually feeling a spark of excitement about it.

That was work. This is weight loss. Same deal. Faking it till I make it. :)

Picture out of my office window today, right before I left work. Actually, I'm in a cubicle, this is what I saw when I stood up.