A very often used quote is “Fake it till you make it”. But how true is it and can you really pretend to be someone to achieve something?
If we could pretend to be someone and reach an impressive amount of success based on nothing that would be amazing. However while this may last a short amount of time there will come a time that you are falling off your high horse. You can talk yourself a way into a high paying job if you are persuasive. But unfortunately this opportunity will not last if you have nothing to show for yourself to earn that spot in the long run. Faking something for a short amount of time is possible and it could teach you the necessary building blocks to improve long term so you can stay there permanently when you reach it for the second time, but this time through the normal path. A quick, and stupid, example is renting an expensive car and driving like you have earned the car by hard work. Some people will be mislead by it and it could bring you places where you can learn a lot. However continueing to rent cars like that will turn you broke and struggle for surviving.
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. – Abraham Lincoln
Doing something as innocent as the example above doesn’t hurt anyone. But neither will it improve your position if you do it for an extended amount of time. You might arrive at a half-way point top using this, but it will never keep you there. To truly arrive at the top and to stay there you will need to learn a lot, work hard and continue both. In due time this hard work will pay off and you. The benefit you get from faking it is you will start to get to know people who can accelerate your progress. Even if they are unable to assist you in the short time you well get to know them and they could be the helping hand you need in a year or 3 when you get to a higher level of what you want to achieve.
An example where fake it till you make it initially helps is the sales world. If you need to sell a home to buyers you need to be able to explain everything about the home and make them trust you. Before you succesfully know everything about the homes you sell you need to get some experience. Before you get this you will need to make your feet wet in order to get the experience. Maybe you are able to sell a couple of homes and then something happens why you aren’t able to continue on the path. For example the commision earning isn’t enough to sustain your family. You have to earn a certain amount and switch to a different job. On the side you still try to sell stuff and continue to build experience and relationships that can help your carreer later on.