Act as if
I enjoy reading books by Laurell K. Hamilton. I have read them all. Luckily, she also blogs, so I can read how her books are coming along while they are being written. Yesterday (August 12), she wrote a great post on writer’s block, among other things. This bit "Act, as if. Act as if you’re brave when you’re scared. You’ll still be scared, but you’ll seem brave, and you won’t let the fear stop you. Strangely, if you act braver than you are over and over again, eventually most fears begin to recede, to grow less. Not all, but most. Act as if you’re more positive than you are, and over a number of years you find that you have become more positive." hit me in the heart. This is exactly how I face my own fears, my own weaknesses. I literally fake it at first, until it is not so scary. I have used this method to become more positive in my own life. There are so many other ways to describe this technique. "Fake it ’til you make it" and "just do it" come to mind. And yet, I think I prefer this, as it has a component of visualization: act as if you have already succeeded. Act as if you are already who you would like to be.
“Fake it til you make it” has always bothered me because the word “fake.” When I did sales, that quote was almost always brought up at motivational seminars. In my mind, what’s to fake if you believe in yourelf? Some of my more religious counterparts would use the word “faith” instead of “fake.” “Act as if you are already who you would like to be” suggests confidence and a plan.
I too found these words a bit more palatable than the “fake it” ones. Back when we used to let our cats outside, one of our cats came home with a horrible wound that had pulled his fur/skin off of 1/2 his body. My husband and I were horrified and raced him to the pet hospital. My cat, once he was confined to a cage there, “acted as if” there was nary a problem in the world. He layed down on the side where his skin/fur was pulled off and licked his paw as if nothing was happening, nothing was wrong. He was completely faking!!! About $1000 later (sutures, a drain, antibiotics & time) he is fine, well except for being a house cat which he hates. Now you’d never know anything had ever happened. All of the fur grew back properly, etc.
So for me, the “act as if” has a bit of a “pretend” or “fake it” component, but indeed as you say, it does seem to imply a bit more of a plan and a destination.