Why “fake it till you make it” works

The endless spiral of self-doubt that forces us to question our competence and sabotages the opportunities we could've taken is something that holds many of us back. Lucky for us, there's a way that could get us out of this anxiety-induced downward spiral.

You've probably heard of the oft-cited advice "Fake it till you make it." Over the years, the phrase has lost its novelty and now sounds like clichéd advice you'd find in a pastel-themed carousel on your Instagram explore page.

Fake it till you make it, or counter-attitudinal advocacy in social psychology terms, is essentially a method of tricking yourself into thinking you can accomplish the things you set your heart out to do. Once you communicate something counter to what you believe in, it can slowly help change your original belief.

Now, this isn't supposed to be used in an "Anna Delvey scamming the entirety of New York City" kind of way, but more in a "I don't think I can do this but I'll trick my brain into thinking I can" kind of way.

Here's how this works:you catch yourself losing sleep over something you just can't get yourself to do. It can be a presentation that you're blanking on or a paper that isn't writing itself. This is when you hear a record scratch in your head, stop in your tracks, and deploy your weapons.

Imagine that you've hired a lawyer and their sole job is to convince a jury of all the reasons you can finish the task you're currently struggling with. Your lawyer has to use everything in their arsenal to make your case – maybe you've previously crunched before your deadlines and made it work, maybe you've practised your speech so many times you can now recite it in your sleep, or perhaps you're just an all-around remarkable person who's dead set on achieving their goals.

Now that you've established a case and sufficiently empowered yourself, it's time to actually put in the work. When you end up delivering your speech after you thought you were too shy to speak in public, your brain registers public speaking as a skill you possess.

When you force yourself to argue for something you don't believe in, such as yourself, your brain ends up believing you because it hates pegging you as a liar. Your mind can soften towards views you're arguing for – doesn't matter whether you initially believed so or not. Repeated reaffirmation convinces your brain to forgo the previous mindset where you underestimated yourself.

Constantly suffering from self-doubt and second guessing your abilities can get tiring. In a world where lawyers are expensive to hire, we need to be our own advocates. In the end, perhaps tricking ourselves into unlocking our potential is one of the most authentic things we can do.

Afia Ibnat is trying to gaslight herself into being productive. You too can gaslight her at afiaibnat09@gmail.com