What “fake it till you make it” strategies have you used in a work setting?

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1. Working construction I’d see people standing around or not too busy, and I’ll give them a task that needs done. Whether the foreman wanted them to do that or not didn’t matter. Eventually people would come to me to ask “what next”. Ones higher than me would notice, and sooner or later I’d be promoted. Has happened several times. Fake being a boss until I made it.

2. Definitely.

   I think of “fake it till you make it” as the ability demonstrate your capability to learn new things. I work in the legal field so I’ll give an example here on gaining courtroom experience.

   Before law school, I wanted to be a child advocate. During the interview, I relied on my experience as a student teacher in a Sunday School to explain my ability to build trust with children. I explains how I would use this trust to represent the child’s needs to the court.

   When I was in law school, I did an interview to join a clinic as a student attorney so I could gain experience in court. During the interview, I explained how my experience as a child advocate would be transferrable to my work for clients of the clinic during the court hearings.

   Post law school, I applied to a law firm. During the interview, I explained that the experience at hearings I’d had in the clinic hearings that would aid me in litigating trials.

   Each position required new responsibilities, but I was able to demonstrate my capability given my past work. As long as you can build on *something*, interviewers will take those past experiences into consideration.

3. I pretended to be rich by dressing classy and being closed off to everyone except the prettiest girl 😂

   Needless to say people were curious and attracted to my exclusiveness and attitude that wasn’t bratty privileged.

4. Almost everything in my life; putting myself through college, being an Army medic, being a teacher, starting my farm, building a shed then a dock, raising my kids, working out…

   1. Act confident
   2. figure it out
   3. be confident

5. Went from making $12/hour packing boxes to leading a brand new department at an organization with next to nobody to report to, choosing my own hours working from home, and a fancy title for double the money plus benefits simply by overstating my position at old jobs to where they actually reflected my duties. If you made me do managerial work and train in and keep an eye on employees, bam, I was a manager in charge of XYZ. Selling your abilities on your experience with anything tangentially similar helps a lot. You have to learn to bullshit.

6. My work experience is that nobody really knows what they are doing or are doing just enough to not get fired. I was confident and took a job I wasn’t qualified for. I picked it up and now make more money than I should because I bet on myself and figured the job out. People don’t know you are faking it and eventually you become it or you don’t and you are right back where you started any way.

7. – 3 sec of eye contact 2 seconds break
   – masking my stimming in meetings with a pen / toe wiggling
   – memorizing the rules of small talk
   – masking my tone of voice to be as friendly as possible
   – ask people about their weekend every Monday & ask if they are excited about weekend every Friday
   – say good bye to people before leaving the office
   – if that coworker wants to chat about Italy for two hours just let him

8. There are different levels of fake it till you make it.
   There’s a clip from Jim Carrey in which he explains how before being famous, he would psych himself up until he would convince himself he was already rich and famous and able to land the best roles.
   After achieving that state he would go into auditions.

   My guess is that that kind of fake it till you make is only achievable by some small amount of the population or at least people who invested lots of time in developing that kind of skill(Jim Carrey is able to completely transform into other people at another level than most)

9. Dressed the part of management . Everyone thought I was management till they actually made me management

10. I always dress in business clothes at work. Even if the rest of the office is in jeans and a t shirt and sandals. I feel more confident and people think I’m more competent

    At different jobs my bosses send me to travel or send me to represent the office for events because they say I represent the office well and am very professional. (Hilarious because internally I think of myself as a scatterbrained adhd procrastinator who works slow)

    And I’ve been watching the charisma on command YouTube channel for years and it helped me so much with my social anxiety and speaking more confidently in business settings

11. A slight detour on this theme. Read a good one the other day.

    Be the guy who takes on your bosses least favourite tasks. You’ll become their crutch.

12. Depends on whether you want to spend years of your life living less authentically.

13. All i can say is if you think you can do something just go for it. Dont worry about not having anything going into something new. Just give it a shot and see where it goes.

14. Try faking being fake. Trust me you will stand out from all the clones that surround you

15. To be found competent, just be quiet if you don’t know the answer…

    And dress nicer than necessary.

16. Fake confidence in a job interview when I was really sweating and nervous. Poker face when talking about salary expectations along with fake confidence equals higher pay without even having to ask.

17. Always say yes to new opportunities, and continue to be curious. By showing that you’re willing to try new things in a role or suggest new ways to add value it makes you seem like you’re more ambitious than everyone around you.

    Most people won’t say what they think, but you can. Use your voice to open new doors. Talk to people in different departments and be friendly. You also can learn what they do in their job and maybe even get to see some of the work they do. When they show you, ask questuons. Most people assume that when a new job pops up they’ll be considered because they believe they are a good fit. But if you’ve already established an interest, that team will be more welcoming to you.

    When an opportunity pops up it makes it very easy to slide into that new role.

    Also by doing things you’re teaching your brain to be outgoing and likeable, which will eventually manifest.

    Just my opinion ofc