Fake it ’til you make it?

We’re throwin’ back for this one ?  Yup – this is me, circa 2007 doing my first ever photoshoot! You’ll get why I dug this little gem of a pic up soon, so please read on!  Carrie xo

Fake it ’til you make it!

I find no matter who I talk to there is either a view of ‘Yes! Absolutely!’ or, ‘No! You should never fake it!’ ??‍♀️

We all know that what appears on the outside is rarely the same as what’s going on, on the inside.

Social Media has compounded this incredibly.  Always showing the happy moments. Curating content for business and personal brands that show the blooming garden, but not the past planting of the seeds. Never the bump in the road but the victories in the end.

So are they faking it til they make it?

This may lead you to think that ‘faking it’ is always negative or done with deceptive intentions, and while I’m sure this may be the case for some, there is an entire other motivation to consider.

The motivation of growth ?

Growth can only happen when:

1. You are open to it
2. You know where you want to end up
3. You commit to the process

‘Fake it ’til you make it’ actually changed my life.  Not joking!

Let me explain why this is actually a positive in my life and how utilizing it allowed me to have the growth that I desired.

I love being a Mom ?  I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  Staying home with them when they were young was a priviledge, and I am aware a lot of people don’t have that option.  I balanced doing services for friends and family, working during naps ? , after they went down for the night, feeding in the middle of a haircut ?, you name it, I did it to try and balance things ?

The problem? I wanted more for my career. Waaaaay more.

I had dreams.  BIG dreams, but they seemed so far off.  So far in fact that they were just dreams. No timeline, no plan, just those ‘someday’ type of dreams ?

And then one day, I had a huge wake up moment about those dreams.

It was 2005 ish, a day like any other, balancing the Mom life and work life. For whatever reason (thank you universe ? ), something just clicked.

Dressed in jogging pants and a t-shirt, I greeted my client at the front door of my house and we walked down to my hair room in the basement. I slid my clogs on while my client was taking a seat, and realized there was a giant spit up stain on my joggers.

It’s Mom life, I get it, but after I finished that client and walked him out the door, I realized that if I wanted those dreams I thought about all the time, I HAD to start showing up every single day as the person I wanted to become ? ? ? ?

And so I did.

I started living the ‘fake it ’til I make it’ life ??

I changed the way I dressed. Why? Because my dream me didn’t show up everyday in jogging pants with spit up on them, however comfortable they may be.

I changed my work environment. I created the best professional version of where dream me would work, in the room I currently had available.

I educated myself in the way that dream me would do everyday.

I connected with people, like dream me would confidently do, and found mentors already doing the things that I wanted to do. I soaked up every bit of knowledge from them that I could.

I faked the shit out of my life.

And guess what happened?

I got more referrals.  Clients started responding to me differently.  The confidence I showed on the outside was being built brick by brick on the inside.

I started living the way I would if I had already attained my goals.

And guess what happened then?

I attained them!

Fake it ’til you make it doesn’t have to be dishonest.  I never lied to people, I was always honest in my skillset and what I was capable of.  I just lived my life as the person I wanted to become.  I made choices the way ‘she’ would make them.  I dressed, acted, reacted and accepted responsibility for my life like ‘she’ would.

It was the best (and one of the most difficult) things I ever did, which leads us to today.

I’m still doing it. Every.Single.Day ?

It’s not immediate. It’s not a quick fix.  It takes time and effort and determination, but in the end (and even in the process) it is SO rewarding.

That picture of me I said we’d wind back to? That was me, two years after I decided my future self did not show up in jogging pants with spit up on them.

That was me, doing the things I had dreamed of doing before (like a photoshoot), and already working to put even bigger dreams in motion, because that’s exactly what ‘she’ would do.

Just try it.  You never know what can happen! But if you decide to try, do yourself a favour and COMMIT.  Even on the hard days.  Even on the days you don’t think you are making progress.  Just keep on doing it.

Be the person you want to become and most importantly, enjoy the ride that gets you there.

You can be anything you want to be ?

Thanks for listening,

Carrie

www.cihairstudio.ca