
Act As If - michaelbuckbee
https://medium.com/design-startups/3600f4672b3e
======
callmeed
Seriously, WTF.

I hate this _" fake it til you make it attitude"_ and I see it both in the
startup industry and the one we work in (photography). This works for Conan
and actors because the worst-case is he has a bad show. It can work in an
investor pitch meeting because the worst-case is you bomb and they don't
invest. But once you're providing a professional service to someone else
(consulting, wedding photography, training) or leading employees at a company,
you have no effing business _pretending to be something you 're not_.

\- If you've never at least attempted to start a business, you have no
business coaching people in lean startup methodologies and taking their money.

\- If you've never assisted at a wedding and learned your camera, you have no
business buying an SLR at Costco and taking money to photograph someone's
wedding.

\- If you don't know anything about basic web app security, you have no
business taking someone's money and building them an ecommerce site.

Yes, at a certain point you can learn new things as you go. But IMO too many
people are straight-up lying about what they are and what they know.

I feel the concepts of humility, apprenticeship, and a desire for
learning/mastery are being lost in favor of "act as if" and "get big fast".

\---

EDIT: I get now that this article is addressed to those with _impostor
syndrome_ and not actual impostors. Personally I think actual impostors are
more endemic and just as likely to latch onto advice like this.

~~~
jerf
Imposter syndrome is not about "fake it till you make it". Overcoming imposter
syndrome is realizing that you _have_ made it. "Acting" as if you have is just
a cognitive hack to convince your brain of something that is already true.

If you _haven 't_ made it yet, you don't have imposter syndrome.

~~~
waster
Though true for a certain subset, otherwise this is not entirely accurate.
Impostor syndrome is common among those with extraordinarily high IQs: the
highly gifted (3-4 standard deviations from the mean), exceptionally gifted
(more so; 5-6 SD's from the mean), and profoundly gifted (in particular; more
than 6 SD's from the mean). This is true even for children, who obviously
can't be considered to have "made it" or not.

Impostor syndrome is insidious. You know what you know/are extremely fast to
spot patterns others don't seem to notice, especially others of your
age/experience. But you're just you, like you've always been; and you realize
that at any time, someone could call you out for being just like anyone else,
because how do you know how everyone else's thought process works? After all,
you're just spotting patterns, accumulating data, and winging it. Little do
you realize that that proficient/effective pattern-spotting _is_ intelligence
(or at least, one measure; measurement tools don't really count creativity,
for example, which may be core to true genius, along with a host of other
characteristics).

------
ctdonath
Most people assume the term "expert" applies to someone who knows [pretty
much] everything there is to know about a given subject.

I've learned that "expert" really applies to someone who knows more about the
subject than anyone else involved or available...and that knowledge may very
well be next to nothing. I'd been coming to this conclusion, which finally
sunk in when my wife, working at a top consulting company, was told "If you
can spell 'Cognos' you're an expert" (with implication said "expert" would be
on the next plane and billed out at several hundred dollars an hour).

"Impostor Syndrome" kicks in when you _do_ know more about the subject than
anyone else involved or available, and you know that knowledge _is_ next to
nothing.

~~~
mcv
Almost every recruiter I talk to says they need an expert on some technology,
and every time I says I'm not really an expert, and explain in minute detail
everything I don't know about it. They're invariably impressed.

~~~
rralian
In my experience recruiters are always impressed and push you forward. It
takes very little of their time to put someone forward (relative to your time
and the company's time), and if you happen to impress, they get their
commission. If they don't put you forward, it's guaranteed they don't get that
additional chance. Every time I've come to the conclusion a certain
opportunity wasn't right for me, they've always argued that I should try for
it anyway. We (talking developers here) are their product and we are a scarce
resource. They're not going to turn anyone away.

~~~
mcv
Yeah, I always need to remind myself that recruiters are irrelevant. It's the
client that matters, and the recruiter is just in the way. I wish they weren't
part of the process, but I'm not sure how to get around them.

------
xefer
Whenever I see that phrase I think of the scene from "Boiler Room":
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BIa1N_wU0k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BIa1N_wU0k)

~~~
theorique
So awesome. One of the best scenes from that movie.

    
    
       Jim Young: There's an important phrase that we use here,
       and think it's time that you all learned it. Act as if.
       You understand what that means? Act as if you are the
       fucking President of this firm. Act as if you got a 9"
       cock. Okay? Act as if.

------
aarondf
I think Conan has a good head on his shoulders, he was super classy with the
whole Tonight Show thing. Gives good advice

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr_X4w8FdGk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr_X4w8FdGk)

------
timje1
the site linked to
([http://html9responsiveboilerstrapjs.com/](http://html9responsiveboilerstrapjs.com/))
is brilliant and I love it. I have no doubt that if web application design
continues at this rate, all of those words will refer to a ( _bleeding edge_ )
.js framework / module within five years.

 _It works in RubeGoldberg 2.2 but will not autocompile freeway buttmonkey
merge svn commitshare javahunk_

------
justinlloyd
Telling someone with "Impostor Syndrome" to "act like you've made it, because
you have" is like telling someone with severe clinical depression they "just
need to cheer up."

~~~
gfosco
Pretty much... but what else can you say?

I'm suffering from Impostor Syndrome pretty bad, after moving across the
country alone and going from being a big fish in a small pond, to a small fish
in a big pond. Every day I am killing myself over this, and it's not healthy.
I know I should accept the fact that I'm doing well, but I haven't yet.

------
kyro
I think Conan's "act as if" advice unknowingly points to a whole field of
research that claims that your actions and ideas are reciprocally linked. That
is, if your idea of yourself is that you're confident, you'll act like it.
Conversely, if you act like you're confident, your mind will develop the
belief that you are truly confident. A great book that discusses this topic is
_Thinking, Fast and Slow_ by Daniel Kahneman.

------
j45
There is a subtle, but huge difference between thinking less of yourself vs
thinking less about yourself.

Just the same, there is a subtle, and huge difference between fake it till you
make it, vs being positively unreasonable, relentless, and always moving
inward, onward, upward.

The difference is one seeks external validation / approval / reinforcement to
overcome insecurities and self-worth issues, and the later is a friend and
supporter to themselves.

Which do you want to be? The same person who's getting better every day by
cultivating and developing a healthy, realistic, inner dialogue and support,
or lying to yourself and everyone around you?

I pick keeping it real because I want real people and real things in my life.
I pick not being above solving problems that are beneath so many programmers.
I pick seeing the difference a one page script can make in someone's life as
much as working out the most intricate and grande architecture as an effigy to
myself.

I heard in my 20's that the 20's is the hardest years. Everyone's faking it
but feeling alone and trying to figure it out. It's no wonder why some funders
like focusing on entrepreneurs in their 20's vs later when they have a more
well rounded sense of the world, self and more. The quicker you learn you
aren't the first to go though pretty much anything in the world, the quicker
you'll be free to truly experiment, be creative, take chances and achieve
because there are others who you can connect with.

Don't look to others. Leadership is first about learning to lead yourself, not
others. If people like how you lead yourself, they join you for a much longer
haul. If you're leading yourself to be a bullshitter, guess what you got
around you.

Hang around with shit, or be shit, and you'll end up staying that way.

Edit: Doubt worshipping Downmodderz, be more than invisible, speak up, let's
chat, no need to hide behind your mouse :).

------
diminoten
I've always told myself, "People do this all the time, and they succeeded."

It's kind of like "act as if".

Also, I've taken, "Agree and escalate" from improv and applied it to my real
life, with mixed results.

------
itengelhardt
I've seen this work in all kinds of situation. Especially with people thrown
into leadership roles at young ages (e.g. military). First they are scared,
but then they adjust and stick to the mantra :-)

------
kefs
I'm surprised no one linked to Amy Cuddy's very relevant TED Talk.. Great
watch.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-
_Mh1QhMc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc)

------
raheemm
This article and Conan is advising the same sentiment as being discussed at
the current #1 post on HN (Fucking Sue Me) -->
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6366912](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6366912).

TLDR: Just do things even if you are scared about the risks.

~~~
ctdonath
_" although it cannot hope to be useful or informative on all matters, it does
at least make the reassuring claim, that where it is inaccurate it is at least
definitely inaccurate." \- Douglas Adams_

This, perversely, has been very helpful to my confidence.

------
nether
Medium's articles seem really trite.

------
robterrell
Vonnegut: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we
pretend to be."

Without impostor syndrome nagging at me constantly, it's likely I would be an
insufferable ass. (Well, even MORE so.) It's weird, but I like it.

------
joshuaheard
This reminds me of a book I read 30 years ago called "Winning Through
Intimidation"

([http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Through-Intimidation-Robert-
Ri...](http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Through-Intimidation-Robert-
Ringer/dp/0449207862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378971890&sr=8-1&keywords=winning+through+intimidation)).

The book recommends that you dress, act, and basically pretend you are
successful. People will then believe you are successful and want to do
business with you. You then become a success.

------
Fuxy
I got a better way stop idolizing these people they're all on this spinning
dirt ball. Just do it and don't make a big deal out of it.

~~~
rmcastil
I'm the author of the "further reading" article in the post and this is
exactly how I deal with my bouts with impostor syndrome. I've been around
enough "experts" to know they're just average guys/gals like the rest of us.
They breath the same air and have all of the same emotions.

------
ilaksh
I don't feel like an imposter. Maybe some if you people are full of crap and
pretended you knew stuff you don't in order to get a job or funding. Then you
really are an imposter and that's why you feel that way.

------
mcv
Huh. That H9RBS.js sounds pretty neat. Can't believe I hadn't heard of it yet.
I'll see if I can use it for my next enterprise thing.

------
mathattack
Projecting confidence leads to people believing.

~~~
timje1
Better than that, projecting faked confidence results in you developing real
confidence.

Additionally, people tend to revert to doing what is expected of them if not
consciously trying to change their behaviour - if people expect you to behave
confidently, you will tend to act more confident as a result.

~~~
mathattack
Both true. I think I've read research that acting confident increases your
confidence. Unfortunately I can't find it handy, but I thought it was very
counterintuitive.

