Why Fake it Till You Make it?
Because now is the only time you can act upon.
I’ve been writing fiction most of my life. My first work, a 50-page illustrated sci-fi story, was completed when I was 9 years old. I tried my hand at multiple other creative outlets over the years, but always found writing creeping back into my life.
After self-publishing a couple of my novels in fits and spurts, I took the plunge for real in 2020. That year, I put 6 books out into the world. Since then, I’ve been writing, editing, and publishing books far more frequently.
I always wanted to be a published author. And I am. There should be no caveats to this. Fact is fact.
But, due to long-held beliefs on the part of others close to me, as well as some still rooted deep within me, there are caveats to this. I’m self-published, which means no traditional publishing house took my work and put it out there.
Sometimes, nagging doubt and the current state of my earnings from my books makes me question if I’m truly an author. Despite having 13 fictional titles in the world at large, I’m not fully earning my living off my writing.
So, I have a choice. Allow the doubts, long-buried beliefs instilled in me by others, and outside messages about what makes you a published author to alter my path. Or stake my claim, revel in being a published author, and keep going on this path I believe is the right one for me.
Ergo, fake it till I make it. But am I really faking it if the work is being done?
Choosing your life paths
There are lots of ideas and fictions in the world about having a singular purpose in this life. While I do believe that we all have gifts to share with the world, and what Paulo Coelho calls our “personal legend,” our singular purpose is not our only purpose.
That’s because change is the one and only constant in the Universe. Change can, will, and does happen – like it or not. It’s inevitable. You often have zero control over it.
Due to the inevitability of change, your life – and what paths you take – will change. A lot of that is because who you were in your teens isn’t the same as who you are in your 20s. Who you were in your 20’s isn’t who you are in your 40’s, and so on.
That’s not to say that elements don’t remain similar along the way. I’ve been writing since I was a pre-teen. The style, subject matter, and uncountable other elements of my work have changed along the way because I’ve changed. I think 9-year-old me would look at 52-year-old me and wonder how we’re the same.
All along the way, throughout life’s changing course, you get to choose your paths. If you allow yourself to make those choices. Lots and lots of outside influences would prefer you choose as they want you to. How many people were told by a well-meaning parent what they should do with their life along the way? Some followed that, and if it wasn’t their passion they found themselves unhappy, discontented, and sometimes dispirited.
Choosing not to actively choose a path is a choice. When looking at especially challenging paths, sometimes you find you can’t walk it if you don’t act as if you’ve already conquered it.
Fake it till you make it
Active conscious awareness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is recognition of what’s happening within your head, heart, and soul. This is achieved by recognizing what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, what your intentions are, if you are taking a positive or negative approach, and ultimately what your actions are.
However, this only works in the here and now. The past has come and gone and is unchangeable. Similarly, the future is unwritten and might not play out as you’d intend it to. Working from and in the now, the present, is how you effectively take what control you can of your life, your paths, and yourself.
Ergo, to manifest who, what, where, how, and why you desire to be, acting as if you already are that person will put you on that path. If you’re there – but not quite there – you must fake it till you make it.
What does that even mean? For me, it means first accepting myself as a published author. No, I didn’t get a deal from Random House, Tor, or some other traditional publisher. But the world has changed and that matters a lot less than it used to. I’ve got 13 novels out there. I’m adding 3 more before the end of 2024. Ergo, I AM A PUBLISHED AUTHOR.
Fake it till you make it, for me, means removing the caveats. Be on this path, writing and publishing, and stop letting the doubt about being self-published and sales not yet being where I desire them to be and stake my claim. This is my path, and I am on it.
You deserve this
Brain weasels are annoying, chittering, lying liars in your head. They’re often the residue of people who might have been malicious, could have been well-meaning, or just utterly random, telling you how you are lacking, unworthy, insufficient, undeserving, and the like.
That’s inner dialogue issues. Just to add further insult to injury, you and I live in a fear-based society. Much of that focuses on lack, scarcity, insufficiency, and false notions of worth and deserving. Whole swaths of our so-called leaders don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves and convince people to do things against their better interests via fear.
Choosing your own path in life can be daunting. When you buck the status quo, or you do something outside the “norm”, you might feel like you’re constantly being looked upon askance. Are you worthy and deserving in the eyes of him/her/them?
The truth is that this doesn’t matter. What matters most is being true to yourself. If your path is not common or akin to anyone else’s, that’s okay. You deserve to walk it.
However, you interact with people because you don’t live in a vacuum. So, you might need to fake it till you make it both for yourself and how you impress upon others.
Know that you needn’t be any of the artificial labels emphasized in the world today to be worthy and deserving of choosing, walking, and succeeding on your path.
Fake it till you make it and no longer need to fake it
While the end goal is worth striving for, more often than not you’re on a path from point “a” to point “b”. The journey itself is where you will spend most of your time in this life.
If, as I postulate, the meaning of life is TO LIVE (as in do things, be things, experience things, learn things good, bad, or otherwise), you gain lots of insight on any given path you take. The unexpected will constantly present itself. It can be an obstacle, an alternative way of thinking, or a solution that didn’t previously occur to you.
The path is where you live and experience all the potential and possibilities life has to offer. When you live in a state of constantly being not quite who/what/where you desire to be, you’ll be regularly struggling. That’s why so long as you work to lose weight, you always need to lose weight. If you’re only ever almost where you desire to be, you’ll always be not quite there.
When you fake it till you make it, you tell the Universe that you believe in yourself, in your end goal, in the potential and possibilities of life. This is how manifestation works. Fake it till you make it doesn’t mean being phony. It means doing the thing(s) you do to be who/what/where/how/why you desire to be. It’s not a fallacy because you are, in fact, putting in effort and energy to manifest it.
That’s why you fake it till you make it. Because that tells the Universe you are taking action, puts your head, heart, and soul in the game, and puts you on a given path. It’s not bullshit and does not harm anyone, especially you.
This is my path
I don’t have a contract with a traditional publishing house. Nor do I have a literary agent. And I don’t need either. I’m the published author I always desired to be. That’s why I’m putting out 3 more books this year. I’m not lying, I’m not full of shit, but to an utterly harmless degree, I am faking it till I make it.
In my head, heart, and soul, I know this is the path I desire to travel. It feels right to me. Maybe I’m not yet at my end goal, but what I am learning and experiencing along the way I wouldn’t trade for anything.
This is my life, and I’m living it to the best of my ability. I will make it and not need to fake it because I believe in myself and the path I’ve chosen. You can do this, too.
Do you fake it till you make it when you know what you desire in your life?
This is the six-hundred-sixty-fourth (664) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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