Fake It 'Til You Make It?
Should you or shouldn’t you? Is there a right and wrong way? Here are my thoughts on this. Energetically I’m all in. What does that mean? Those of us in the self-help, self-improvement, coaching, self-love, entrepreneurial world know that FEELINGS are the language of the Universe. So whatever you can do to help you create the vision that you want to create in your world DO IT! These can be things such as Vision Statements, Dream Boards/Jars, Pinterest Boards, etc.
Create a representation of your vision, dreams and goals that gets you emotionally involved and excited. Visit that “place” every day. Visualize your life, every aspect of it, and GET EXCITED! Feel into whatever this future version of your life will bring.
Write yourself love notes and put them in places you will see throughout the day as a reminder of what you are creating. Say you want to have speaking engagements. Write a sticky note and put it on your mirror saying (in your own words, however you normally speak) “What a kick-ass crowd today!” Or write one as a reminder note of where you have your next engagement booked.
Another fun way to live “as if” is to have conversations with friends or family who are on the same page as you discussing the daily activities, planned vacations, business ventures and collaborations as if they are in your life right now. And make sure to pay attention to how that all feels. When you are in the moment it feels very, very real. And totally reasonable! It’s a great exercise to speak as if you are already experiencing the life you envision.
You can immerse yourself in this “fake it ‘til you make it” experience by planning little day trips doing things you would like to be doing all the time. Say in your future you will be going to the beach and reading your favorite book any time you feel like it. If you live close to the beach go spend a few hours there doing exactly this and pretending you are already living the life. Maybe working from a café at a quaint little sidewalk cafe is something you see yourself doing – do it! Create the scenario and experience it as if it is part of your daily life even if it currently isn’t.
Here’s the subject I have pros and cons about – finances. Yes, I totally, whole-heartedly believe you need to invest in yourself in order to create the life you dream of. Yes, it can be a stretch on your finances sometimes but if you TRULY believe a certain investment will get you moving in the right direction and help your vision manifest, then do your absolute best to make it happen. I have invested in myself over the years, quite a bit, and it was a stretch. Even though it is obvious to me that the Universe is on a different time frame than I am, I can see the results of my investments. The thing is, many people invest, invest, invest and don’t apply what they’ve learned. Taking ACTION is an absolute MUST if you want to feel like you are gaining traction and momentum. So invest, take action and put to use what you have learned. When you feel like you’ve got that down, then consider investing in something else. Shiny object syndrome (moving from one thing to what you think is the next best thing over and over again) will not necessarily get you where you want to go. In fact more often than not, it’s a form of procrastination. Time goes too quickly for that shit!
Faking it ‘til you make it by spending money that is WAY out of your financial range is something you really need to think about before doing. Going on an exotic vacation for example, that is well out of your budget just because you want to live “as if”, is not a good idea if once you come back to reality you are stressed out over paying bills. Financial issues can cause stress that will literally affect your health, wealth, relationships and productivity. Really consider the consequences of going down this road. Years ago I filed bankruptcy. My ex and I had invested in a fixer-upper (aka the Money Pit). He brought in our only income at the time because I was staying home with our children. We over-extended ourselves over time with a few things that “we would just figure out”, including a restaurant. We faked it. It didn’t work. We didn’t “make it”. I was totally stressed, I was charging groceries, I felt sick and worried every day until we finally made the decision to file for bankruptcy. It sucked. So in my opinion, financially faking it doesn’t pay off.
There are responsible ways of living your life right now as if you were already in your fully manifested dream life. Absolutely you can splurge a little every now and then. But remember, if you go on that exotic vacation and keep thinking about how you are going to actually pay for it, you aren’t really experiencing living your life “as if”. You are bringing in a feeling you don’t want to have – anxiety. So be wise about your choices.
It is the FEELING of experiencing your future life now that sets the wheels in motion. It is the planning and action steps that get you there.
There are probably dozens of techniques you can use to help you realize any money blocks you may have and work past them. There are thousands of coaches and programs you can invest in to give you tools to manifest your vision. But there is NOTHING like taking ACTION to help you realize your potential.
Like Mike Dooley says, You can put the destination into your GPS but if you don’t put your foot on the gas pedal and step on it you will never get there.
Basically what I’m saying here, and there are probably people who will disagree, is that faking it ‘til you make it can be done in a way that will not put you in a financial strain. If seeing credit card statements every month where the balance barely goes down (or even goes up) stresses you out, then choose your “living as if” activities carefully. Visualizing is a VERY powerful tool. There are super fun ways to experience the feelings of everything already having manifested into reality. Financial stress will only affect your health, relationships, outlook and productivity for actually creating the next phase of your life.
Your gut feeling is a good thing to listen to with this topic. Yes, you do need to stretch outside your comfort zone in order to grow. But you need to learn the difference between excited fear and “Hell no this is a bad idea” fear. I’m sure you have proof of gut feelings gone wrong in your life. Looking back you see them very clearly. Start practicing and being aware of these feelings. Get that intuitive mojo working for you!
Again, investing in yourself if you are ready to take action, committed to making serious moves and ready to Get Shit Done is great! Believe me it really has helped me in moving forward, given me the courage to put myself out there and has helped me in more ways than I’m probably even aware of.
Just allow yourself to feel into the way that is right for YOU to fake it ‘til you make it.
Would you like a glimpse into how your not-so-far-in-the-future self lives and experiences life? Create your Vision Statement for 2017. I’m offering a no-brainer offer for a live, online workshop on December 28th where I will guide you through creating your own vision for the upcoming year. This is a super-powerful exercise that will set the energy level HIGH for manifesting! AND this is a great foundation to create even more from.
Go HERE to sign up.