Wanna know how to succeed no matter what the situation is?

Fake it til you make it. 

And then fake it some more. 

And apparently that’s pretty much the key to success in adulthood in literally every area of life. Who knew?

Last night on our Praxis Monday call, Chad Troutman, CMO of SENTIO (an AI-based hiring platform for high-turnover industries), spoke to us about the skills and mindset necessary for building a career in marketing (as well as succeeding in any entry-level role).   

Although it wasn’t one of the key points of his talk, the concept of “Fake it til you make it” landed pretty heavily on me.

During the Q&A time after his main talk, a fellow Praxis participant asked for advice regarding a situation she was in at her current job. His answer was, essentially, that—fake it til ya make it. He went into more depth, obviously, but that was the essence of it. 

He actually touched on it earlier in his talk, but it was more directed towards the topic of confidence. That having confidence and having the courage to own your opinions, ideas, and thoughts moving forward is how you actually develop and grow. Being willing to stand by something even if the result is less-than-stellar. 

To boil it down—you can’t be wishy-washy.

Seems simple enough, right? 

Right. 

It should be. 

Funny how things work out, but that’s apparently an area that I have lots of room to grow in.

However, the glorious part is that you don’t actually have to be confident. You just have to make other people think you’re confident (which can be done through means other than genuinely feeling certain of a given idea or decision [which is kind of my working definition of confidence, apparently]).

So as long as you speak with authority and don’t waffle back and forth between multiple options and look people in the eye and maintain a sense of energy that reassures people that you can do it, ta-da! You can do it. Congratulations, you’re now confident (or at least people will think you are—and apparently that’s all that really matters in the long run anyway).

Maybe that’s a little facetious, but I think there really are ways to develop that external sense of confidence even when you don’t feel it inside. I have no idea what they are though, so—if you’re reading this, let me know! 

What are some ways to develop and/or train yourself to appear (or actually become) more confident? Share your ideas, tips, and tricks in a comment below and we can figure this thing out together!