I’ve never liked the term “fake it till you make it.”

A part of me deep down would recoil and feel some resistance to it whenever anyone would say it. There is an element of high level truth to it of course, and since it rhymes, well then it must be true right?  But something about it just never resonated with me. And I didn’t really realize why until a few days ago.

When someone says “fake it till you make it,” deep down embedded in that expression is the idea that you are not already that thing you want to be.  Sure you might not be a CEO, a husband, a wife, a VP of Sales or whatever it is that you’re wanting to become, but really it’s not the title you’re looking for, it’s the feeling you will get when you realize that achievement.

Many of us are seeking these things because at our core we believe that we are not worthy, we are not courageous, we are not lovable, and if we just pretend to be the name tag that involves the idea of success outwardly long enough, eventually we will be those other things regarding feelings internally. But in reality faking it gets us to the destination, but often we feel less than deserving on the inside when we arrive.

No wonder “Imposter Syndrome” is such a commonly experienced thing.

The truth is you can and should be working toward those things externally if that’s what you desire for yourself, but internally, you have absolutely got to know at the very center of everything that you are, that you already ARE those things. When you know something, you are not faking. You are not pretending. You are actually that thing. Full stop. And if you don’t know it, then the real work is going inward to change your beliefs so that you know it as sure as you know the sun will rise every single morning.

A key component of how your world is expressed in reality is by what beliefs you hold about yourself.  If you believe that you are not financially successful, sure you can pretend that you are until your outward world reflects that, but what can happen is that you end up with all the riches in the world, but you still feel an empty hole in the center of your being. And then you’re caught in this perpetual cycle of always trying to fill that hole with things from the outside like some ravenous science fiction energy vampire because the foundation of you was built on shifting sand that goes along with whatever direction the wind blows instead of at the affect of your desires.

One of the oddest things about human beings is that we have collectively risen above so many challenges over the course of our existence, yet daily we argue for ourselves to remain limited and mediocre. If one of our ancestors from 1,000 years ago popped in on us today and realized we’ve created rocketships but we’re not flying to the moon every single day, they’d think us the worst kind of lost potential.

We spend an inordinate amount of time rejecting evidence of our greatness and instead key in our subconscious to the coordinates for a rendezvous with being small. We dim our lights every single day, having internalized someone else’s beliefs about ourselves instead of putting our own desires, happiness, and personal forward moving action front and center in our lives.

If you’re faking it, it kind of implies you don’t really believe that you have what it takes. You’re using action to achieve, which is both important and essential, however the actions you are taking aren’t backed with a resonance of power. So instead, work on believing the best about you, and THEN go out and do that thing you’re wanting to accomplish. That way when whatever it is that you desire arrives, you’re sourcing your living from the inside out. It is an energy source that fuels your life instead of a gravity well that sucks the life out of everything around you, INCLUDING you.

It’s definitely not as catchy an expression but why not say to yourself “know it, till you show it” instead of the other way.  “Believe it. Be it. See it,” is another. Whatever expression you end up channeling your intentions into, just make sure that your own happiness is your fuel and no matter what is going on around you, you’ll be ok. After that, it’s almost inevitable that the riches of life will follow and flow.

No faking is required. Believe that’s who you are and live into your desire.

(Hey…that kind of rhymes.)