‘Fake it until you make it’ gets a bad rap. But it’s one of the key tools top performers use; not to pretend, but to become.

People treat it like a con, like you’re trying to trick the world.

But it’s not about pretending to be someone you’re not; it’s about practicing the version of you that you’re becoming.

Let’s say you want to be a writer.

You don’t feel like one yet. You’re waiting for inspiration, or clarity, or… whatever magic lightning bolt you think is coming to finally make you feel ‘ready.’

But that lightning bolt isn’t coming.

You’ve got it all backwards. You don’t get inspired and then take action. Instead, you’ll feel inspired after you act. The inspiration comes from starting the work.

You sit down and write, then you start to feel like a writer.
You act with courage, then you start to feel brave.
You show up with discipline, then you start to feel capable.

Waiting to feel it before you do it?

That’s a trap. Stay stuck there, and you’re not going to make it.

Let me give you a personal example.

Twenty years ago, I was a smoker. I gave little thought to what I ate. Fast food? Sure, if it tasted good. Late nights and a bag of chips? Absolutely. If you’d called me “health-conscious,” I’d have laughed.

But over time, I started making small, intentional changes.

I quit smoking.
Started reading food labels.
Shopped mostly in the periphery of the grocery store, instead of the middle.
Switched to mostly organic food.
Started taking supplements.
Learned about toxins in my environment and cleaned up what I could.

The thing is, I didn’t feel like a healthy person at first.

I just kept making the kinds of choices that a healthy person would make.

Now?

I am someone who’s deeply committed to my health.

Not because I was born that way, or raised like that. But because I acted my way into it.

This shift didn’t happen overnight.

It happened action by action, habit by habit, day by day. I faked it til I made it.

And that’s how identity works.

It’s not something you wait to feel.

It’s something you earn.

So here’s what actually works:

Build the system.
Make it simple. Make it automatic. Take the thinking out of it.
Don’t sit there wondering if you’re ready.
Just get to work acting like the version of you who already is.

Eventually, it won’t feel fake at all.

It’ll just feel like you.

You don’t need to believe it right away. You just need to do the damn thing.

Your belief will eventually catch up with you.

Quotation I’ve Been Pondering

“Every next level of your life will demand a different you.” — Leonardo DiCaprio

Journal Prompt

“What identity are you trying to grow into right now? And what small, daily action would that version of you take, even on the days they don’t feel like it?”

Until next week!!

Work and live well.

Tim

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