Ladies and Gentleman, life is a grind. It's a lot of am I doing this right? How did that happen? I thought I paid that bill? What do you mean I'm late? I need new tires? And then sometimes it's how did I get so lucky? I can't believe my dreams are coming true! This is the best day ever!
The point - it's ups and it's downs and it's a lot of nobody knows what they're doing anways. But the ones who I know are going to be okay, they're the ones who fake it til they make it. I'm talking the people you meet who seem to just have it together. They're always on. They never appear flustered. We all know them. We wish we were them.
So how do you fake it until you make it?
Believe in Yourself
The first and most important rule of faking it til you make it is to actually believe in yourself. You can't expect anyone else to buy into you if you're not confident in your product. But what if you're just not there yet? Before you can fake it, you've got to work on creating some level of confidence in yourself - even if you've got to trick yourself! Start by giving yourself pep talks. Write down things that you love about yourself. Put yourself in situations where you know you shine. Rinse and repeat.
Know Who You Are
Are you the funny guy? The tech nerd? The one who always has random facts? Ientify who you are - and be authentic to who that is. Im definitely the goofball. But I'm also really loyal, passionate, and probably too extra. It's who I am. I could never try to be the quiet bookish type. It wouldn't be believable. Know who you are, commit to that, and show people why they should care.
Stay Woke
Stay current on a wide breadth of topics. Read the news. Scan social media. Subscribe to things. Just be aware. In order to appear put together, you need to be able to engage with people on a myriad of topics and sound informed. The more diverse your knowledge, the more opportunities you will have to meet people and expand your network.
Work Hard
If you expect to eventually make it, and stay there - you've got to work hard. Even the people who accidentally succeed, they don't stay successful unless they work at it. Even when you're faking it, work. Never stop working towards your dream.
Being successful has everything to do with confidence. Everyone who ever made it had to fake it at some point. You arent a failure because you're not there yet - you're a failure if you don't try.