Fake it Til You Make it Garbage Advice - Instead Act as If!
Fake it til' you make it...
I'm sure we have all heard this phrase before in our lives, but this is garbage advice. Fake it til you make it implies that you aren't already that which you seek to be. If you leave your hoped for identity in the future, you will NEVER make it because the future doesn't exist. The only time that truly exists is the present moment. Try this instead...
Act as if!
Since the present moment is the only moment that really exists, the best advice is to go ahead and be that which you seek to be in the future RIGHT NOW. If you want to be a person who is in shape, eats healthy, and exercises on a daily basis, then you have to embody that person in the present moment! You'll never get there if you're always looking for tomorrow.
How do you do this? You act as if you have already achieved your goals! If you want to be in shape and eat healthy, then you have to BE that person now, in the present moment. You have to change your identity from the old to the new. This might seem silly at first because you have all of the years of bad habits and negative beliefs engrained in the neocortex of your brain. The neurons are firing and wired together in a certain way already. This is the path of least resistance. Your brain works like a cybernetic mechanism. Just like the thermostat for the A.C. It is set to a certian temperature and if the temperature rises above what's set on the thermostat it kicks on the A.C to bring it back down.
Our brains work in a similar way. If you have a set image, idea, or belief about who you are, no matter what action you take for the future the brain will always bring you back to the identity you have set in your mind. So, what do we do? You gotta change the temperature on the thermostat! We do this by acting as if we have already achieved this new identity, belief, goal etc. Reality reflects back to us the image that we project into it. So if you're over weight, it's because you have the identity of someone who is over weight. Your thought patters, actions, and beliefs will align with this identity and you will go no where. If you just change the way you think, you might see SOME results, but then the proverbial A.C will kick on again and bring you back to the base line you have set for yourself.
It's imperitive to change our identity to that which we seek in the present moment so that the reflection reality is giving us will then change to match our new identity. So if you want to lose weight and be a healthy person, then be that in the present moment. Change your identity. Your identity, or personality, is made up of your beliefs. Beliefs are made up of how you think, act, and feel. So you have to think, act, and feel like a person who is healthy, in shape, and eats nutrient rich foods. What better way to do that, than to practice in the present moment right? So be the person who you want to be in the future RIGHT NOW. Think like them, Act like them, and Feel like them.
You can use this in ANY goal that you might be working towards. Act as if it has already happened. If you remember in a previous article I wrote, we talked about how your brain doesn't know the difference between what we THINK and what we actually experience. So if you change your identity to the identity you want in your mind (the way you think), you make new conscious decisions in your daily life that reflect the person you want to be (how you act), and you feel the emotions of what it would be like if you were already that identity (how you feel) then the brain will begin to make new neurosematic connections, the neruons will fire and wire in a new way and your outter reality will change to match the new identity.
Depending on what you are trying to do and the amount of effort you put into it, this could happen in a second, minute, hour, day, month, or it could take a year, even years. It just depends on how deeply engrained the habits are, and how much energy you put into changing your identity.
I hope you have gained something useful from this. Feel free to ask questions if you need more in depth answers. Sometimes I ramble because none of this is scripted. I just write the words out as I think them lol.
Stop wanting, start having!
Best wishes,
-Chris W.
Recent Comments
3
"Act as if" is a great way to look at it. Nice post.
You have explained it very well. Thanks.
Wow!
Chris those are some fantastic words of motivation
Tricking your mind to see success is so awesome
I'm all about positivity. And this is such a positive post
Thank you for sharing
I totally agree, Chris! Well said!
Jeff