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- Sphinn It!
Short, but sweet post from Neil Patel. He suggests that even before you are successful, you must "fake it till you make it".
12 Comments
12 Comments
Comments
Been doin that for years but I’ll still go see what he has to say. ;-)
Or you can fake it and end up looking like a chump in the end...They are a ton of people who don’t look or dress successful but they’re far richer or more intelligent than most of the swarmy smart-talking/fast-dressing types. Appearances are overrated.. especially online.
Guess it depends on your goal, Maki... Fake it til you make it isn’t as disingenuous as it sounds. It’s about sending out making an effort to send out the vibes you’d like to get in return... for those who are not quite there yet.
@Maki: Fake it until you make it isn’t just about the clothes you wear being professional. For some, just having a nice watch or some other confidence boost could be enough to still not "dress successful".And point taken about appearances online. Still, a new avatar may help for some. Or a different username. At the end of the day, it comes down to content.
I get this impression (I wonder if they are faking it and/or whether they really know any more than the average practitioner) from a few of the "A" speakers and bloggers. I’d love to take a look under the hood sometimes and see if their stuff actually works.But I certainly give them all credit for putting themselves out there, being open about their techniques, and having the guts to stand up in front of a room full of hundreds of peers putting themselves out there for all of us to judge.
@nowsourcing I know it ain’t about the clothes. I’m talking about clothes because Neil used it as an example in the post. It’s clear he’s talking about appearances (how you look) although the concept could be associated with a bunch of possible branding strategies. Appearances are not reality but rather an adopted perspective on reality. Clouds aren’t made of fluffy cotton wool although they certaintly look like it. On a surface level, seeing them as fluffy wool isn’t too big a problem. It might even be comforting.But when you want to build a castle on a bed of wool, it’ll hurt to see it tumbling down because you had mistook appearance for reality in the first place. Appearances are deceiving, both in a good and bad way.
Brian (nowsourcing) makes an excellent point. Online your avatar is your watch, suit, whatever. With it you can present yourself as you want others to see you. I went into the details on avatars in this post... http://sphinn.com/story/11238I think SamFreedom is referring to classic "new thought" from the late 1800’s, "act as if" made popular by Napolean Hill. Unfortunately, I believe many today skip over the "vibes" or intention work and seek instant gratification instead, resulting in the disingenuous labeling.We’ve probably all met those "swarmy smart-talking/fast-dressing types" Maki refers to more times than we’d care to.
Seems to me that when you fake it, that’s what you become. Fake.
@tim: correct, there is no guarantee that an "A" speaker / blogger’s methods are better than others inthe field. As far as getting up and speaking in front of many of your peers - hopefully you’ve made it by then, considering that there is typically some Q&A at the end.@maki: yup, clearly not just about the clothes. You wear rather dashing anime cartoon clothes and I wear a big green N :)The clothes may help you, the wearer, feel better: some have power ties or some sort of special item they find comforting.@planetc1: thanks for bringing up that sphinn again. I really enjoyed reading the great analysis you put forth on the subject.And yes, the instant gratification land that is social media can really mislabel individuals.@spostareduro: Perhaps, but consider the catch 22 of a person that doesn’t get the entry-level job they want because they need job experience. However, appearance (maybe self-confidence or showing initiative) could have landed them the job.
That’s sound business advice.....if you’re 12 years old. Or superficial.Not that I’m suggesting the OP is 12 years old.
@nowsourcing: I guess there’ alot of people that do the tux for the ’Big Day’. But, when the day is over, they put on their jeans, grab a mocha latte’ kick their shoes off and resume being the person that the partner fell in love with in the first place. If a person is not in a position to put food in their families mouths unless their appearance suits someones else’s fancy then, by all means, feed the family. But don’t ’Settle’. Of all the employment opportunities that are available for SEO’s, there’s no need for it. With all of the networking that I take note of in these forums, you’d think that there are many ways to implement ones expertise without the fake crap. Building a list of followers by means of pro bono work, non-profit orgs, and a multitude of other types of freelance opps all count towards reputation. Maybe, the corps won’t see these as signs of a Golden Child, but when you wake up in the morning, you still know who you are.
@Sam - "Fake it til you make it isn’t as disingenuous as it sounds. It’s about [sending out] making an effort to send out the vibes you’d like to get in return... for those who are not quite there yet." Fact of the matter is, some people will <i>never</i>quite be there. So, do we jump on the band wagon? If you can’t beat em’ join em’? Promote them even? If a person consideres his worth based on his bank account, then maybe fear of losing a couple of dollars is all that it takes to compromise oneself. But, if a person knows that his bank account doesn’t equal who and what he is, maybe he can risk the loss of cash and kudos, to find that satisfaction makes up for the loss. Wouldn’t it be even better to surprise himself when he finds that there’s even bank for people that do take the risk! Why put limitations on your own self worth?