It upsets me sometimes that so many people stand back from what they really want to do because they don’t think they’re good enough, or don’t have the skills, or won’t ever be a great painter/swimmer/public speaker/writer/jewellery maker/jumper knitterer. So why bother.
But the more creative people I meet, the more I know this: rarely do you start out good at anything. You become it.
And not through anything particularly sloggish. But by just doing it.
Now. No run-up or special conditions.
And by getting messy. And being bad at it.
And while you’re getting good you fake it. You pretend you know what you’re doing, until you do.
Because it’s in the faking it – the role-playing – that you become it.
Take Michelangelo. His rivals persuaded Junius II to hire him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. They knew Michelangelo didn’t use color and had never painted in fresco. They were sure he would turn down the commission because he’d be too scared to fail, or he’d accept and stuff it up. The former they’d use as proof of his lack of talent. The latter…well, the amateur results would show him up as a failure.
Michelangelo accepted the gig. And this is what happened.
He showed up. He decided he was a painter who could paint in fresco and colour.
He did the work. He went through the motions.
Thus, he became a fresco painter who captured colour better than anyone in, arguably, history.
You become what you do. So you just do. You fake it in the early stages. You copy and emulate and feel like a fraud for a while.
By pretending, role-playing, you absorb and build up muscle.
I wasn’t a great writer. In fact, at high school I got straight As in science and maths and Bs in English. But I wrote and wrote, because I liked to, and took on writing gigs and slowly I became a writer. You can read the full drill here. I took on gigs I wasn’t ready for and told people, “yep, I can do it”. I got my first journalism job by telling the editor of Sunday Magazine I could redesign their food pages. I went home and spent the weekend learning Quark and studying restaurant reviews in my favourite mags – how did they open their reviews? how did they balance out critique? – and fronted up on Monday with… something. I was a fake, and I knew this. But this in itself spurred me on to keep doing it – to study and read and re-do my copy over and over. I developed my own style by being crap in the beginning and feeling awkward about this. If I’d been born a good writer, I wouldn’t have refined and strived.
So. What I’m saying is. Just start doing what you like doing. And become it.
Make sense?
Brilliant…i love what you said. Especially that last sentence…
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Thank you Sarah. I am going to take your advice on board and push myself out of my comfort zone, and of course, start to fake it!
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Thanks Sarah, feeling well inspired to fake it ’til I make it and to just do what I love.
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I love this thinking! You don’t often hear creative people saying this. Definitely refreshing And a good idea to start the day with and get me creating and pushing the boundaries!
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That’s awesome! I never knew that about Michaelangelo. I just assumed he was always awesome. So there you go!
The first time I tried scuba diving I was TERRIBLE. Got my vest on backwards, fell over getting into the water and couldnt get back up, the whole works. But I loved it. So I kept doing it. Im fairly proficient now, and rescue qualified, so I can actually save other people if they are terrible, which is a nice feeling.
Charles Bukowski has DON’T TRY written on his tombstone, which I absolutely love. Not dont try as in dont attempt things – but just do them. Do or do not, there is not try – in other words.
Lovely, Sarah, absolutely lovely!
xx
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“If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” -Vincent Van Gogh
So often I feel like I’m faking it, I’m a person pretending I’m an artist. And then I realise that’s what most people feel like. Don’t worry if think I’m something or not, that doesn’t matter – just show up and do the work.
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August 17th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
love that quote..I’ve blogged about it previously!
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This is perfect, Sarah. I just got off an amazing coaching call talking about manifestation. You can’t do something until you start doing it. As a perfectionist I often struggle with doing new things because I won’t be immediately good at them, but I have to give myself “permission to suck” so that I can learn.
Thanks for a timely post. =)
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August 17th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
pleasure.
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hi Sarah This now has a number of ‘studies’ backing it up. Whilst not quite as cliched as ‘practice makes perfect’ the fact is that talent needs to be nurtured, stroked and perfected. There is no doubt that just doing it improves your abilities at any creative endeavour. Malcolm Gladwell in Blink talkes about the magic 10,000 hour rule, where he showed that the be really really good at anything (he looked at musicians in particular) you usually need to have spent that amount of time at the task at hand. That is also why first books can be clunky and a little bit amateurish, and why you can see artists developing and growing in their paintings.
And I think deep done many people feel like a fraud who may be ‘found out’ as being completely untalented or just not very competent. It is very very common amongst those who work in my area (law).
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Thanks for sharing this Sarah. I am one who often (always) gives up before she starts. Unfortunately I am usually put off by creative people who say that they were “born” to write, paint or to make pretty things and.. well ..I’m not quite sure where my creative talents lie. But now I will be taking inspiration from you I am very keen to fake it till I make it!
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I have been doing this my whole working life and have doubled my wage in 2 years (going from MINIMUN wage to something liveable)…
Such a great concept and way of life, love it!
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Sooo… this post is so perfect for my situation right now. I’m a freelance artist. I sell my art if someone is interested in buying it, but other than that, my art is for fun. I take up really any job whether I can do it or not and I keep going until it is right (lot’s of research is involved). I actually just applied for a design job (waiting to hear the verdict, fingers crossed). I’ve never designed anything and when I heard about the job I said “I CAN DO THIS!” even though I have no experience. So I did a ton of research on the latest fashions, what was pretty, what was popular, what this company is looking for and I created drawings that I think will work for this job. Even though I am clueless right now, I’m going to fake it and hopefully I will make it! Besides, any experience, good or bad, will always make you stronger.
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August 18th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
That’s incredible and courageous! Good luck!!!
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Too true! I wanted to create, sew and make, and so I did. First my sewing was crap(I learnt by practice). I pretended I was good though and told people I was a creative sewing type person. and you know what, I got better and now I have a little handmade business creating handmade gifts for creative play.
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Sarah, a great article. I think another dimension to this is feedback we hear way back when we were children and which can sometimes stick with us even through adulthood. Personally speaking, I cannot recall ever receiving encouragement, praise or positive reinforcement from my parents or teachers. In fact it was quite the opposite. Despite my best intentions, I still never believe what I do is good enough and almost wait for the backlash of criticism. Pretty sad hey!
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Love this Sarah, I def need to start faking it a bit more!
I also wanted to ask, have you read Elaine Hollingsworth’s book, Take Control of Your Health and Escape The Sickness Industry?
It was such an eye-opener for me and have led to me making big changes in regards to my health. She talks about thyroid problems in it, but i recommend it to everyone.
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I love this. I remember an “a-ha!” (hello, Oprah called, she wants her line back) moment in high school when I was so nervous about performing in a play but then realised – no one is nervous for me, no one will be embarrassed on my behalf if I make a fool out of myself”. From then on I felt more comfortable with the thought (& occasionally, the action) of pushing myself outside of my comfort zone and pretending I was ok with whatever I was doing until I actually was.
It seemed I’d forgotten this until just this week commencing a new job in a field I’ve never worked within but really wanted to – it’s creative, I have to write copy and rely upon my interests and passions instead of already honed skills… The whole getting the job in the first place feels like a nice twist and play of fate to me, but I have been thinking “gah – I’m not eloquent enough, clever enough, switched on enough – I’m a fraud! They’re going to realise!”
This post I’m taking as a sign (another Oprah-ism) to just get on with it, appreciate and relish the opportunity and Fake It ’til I Make It.
Cheers, Sarah!
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Thank you!!
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A lot of professional people aren’t good at their work. Quite a few aren’t naturals at their chosen profession. They just really wanted to do it more than others. Channel Ten weather man (in Sydney) Tim Bailey isn’t a fluent talker. Even after 15 odd years. Sam Worthington isn’t a great actor but sold all his shit and moved to L.A and look what happened. Pete Murray can’t really sing. Dave Hughes isn’t a natural panellist. Lucky for him that he is funny. Look at out Prime Minister for God’s sake. Not great at her chosen profession by any stretch of the imagination. Remember Darryl Summers? I’d say do whatever you want to do because you may surprise yourself.
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August 18th, 2011 at 5:39 am
I rather like this idea!
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Thank you so much Sarah, this is just what I needed.
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Oh & then when you have made it, you look back at where you started & see how far you have come, it’s a fantastic feeling, love Posie
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Lovely Sarah, I wrote on a similair theme yesterday … Be the person you want to become was my message.
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When I finally bit the fear bullet & figuratively sat my booty down, I didn’t need to shake up my brain cells – my cranium community just came to the party. And what fun we’re having!
The nerves are not nearly as scary & even though I answer one question & smile, only to dig up another 2 questions & frown, the all-important thing is that.I.am.doing.it.now in spite of the fear, the doubt and all of their other constraining cousins!
Funny that after deliberately avoiding my Google Reader in favour of my newest project [!] I return to THIS post! My grin couldn’t be wider. Bless Ms Wilson
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One of the best things I did for myself was to commit to writing a blog post everyday. They are not always as thoughtful or meaningful as I would like but it gets my juices flowing and even when I think I have nothing to offer, something surfaces.
Thank you Sarah! xx
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This is so great. I have been able to do this in some areas of life but never in the one area that I really wanted to embrace (visual art). I’ve finally, recently, started allowing myself to draw and even post the occasional drawing online. I took me a sadly long time to come to this realization! It’s so freeing.
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Nobody starts out brilliant at anything. An apprentice starts out sweeping the floors and other lowly jobs before slowly being inducted into their craft. In the creative fields, there aren’t exactly a lot of apprenticeships. So we have to learn by doing and studying. I am far from being the writer I hope to be one day, but I’m sure as sh*t a lot better than I was when I started. It’s called practice. And we have to be prepared to screw up, stuff up and generally make mistakes galore. And so what if we do? As Stephanie said above – it’s so freeing. I finally took the bit between my teeth and started some comedy classes with a working stand-up. Oh the joy of being encouraged to be a lunatic!
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Thank you. This is exactly the encouragement I need right now.
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[...] feel wildly imperfect and awkward. Why? Because, as Sarah Wilson pointed out recently in her post, creativity tip: fake it and you always make it, it’s the only way to [...]
Oh man, I so feel the same way! Glad to hear it’s normal!
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Thank you so much for sharing…
Its truly beautiful to see people of your calibre share such wonderful and inspiring thoughts! It’s a ‘service’ to humanity really… simple things like ‘fake it until you make it’ is such a simplistic attitude but one that has enormous effects. People don’t realise how true this can be. I just had a cancer patient try our HBOT chambers. Her ‘history’ shows how positive she is, God Bless her… she has ‘faith’ and ‘trust’ in her inner being. She knows she is ‘healthy’ just as God wants her to be… and with this attitude she has come through like a shining star. If people only knew, what the mind can do… so once again thank you and Bless you!!!
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Thanks Sarah, Spooky how just had this exact conversation with my riding instructor. Im 50 and have a huge 700kg dressage horse who feels like a big Trex to ride or maybe a brontosaurus. I have to sit up, shoulders back, hold my core strong while I ride so today I sat up like an olympic rider and faked being in control and confident and the horse couldnt tell!! I sometimes think I should take up embroidery but nothing gives you as good a buzz as mastering your limiting beliefs and pushing into the scary zone, now of to catch the said horsy for a ride in the rain (no excuses)
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So true! I can’t count the times I’ve taken on a job with an “of course I can do that for you!” , then had to learn how to do it. It’s frightening but also thrilling and makes the achievement even sweeter. It helps keep the “soon they’ll find out I am a fraud” panics at bay….sometimes.
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August 19th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Highly successful author (and former investigative journalist and ghost writer of other peoples’ biographies) Michael Robotham said at a writers’ forum he was addressing some time back, that every day he wonders if this will be the day he is discovered as being a fraud. Even the pros can have those ‘I’m a fraud’ feelings.
Committing to something and then having to very rapidly go off and learn how to actually do it can be terribly confronting. And an even bigger problem if it turns out you have bitten off more than you can chew. Taking yourself out of your comfort zone can be a darn good thing to do. Returning to uni a couple of years ago at 45 (a mature age student – maybe maturer in age but still with the mind of a 15 year-old, laughing hysterically at fart jokes), I found myself doing a unit of poetry merely in order to get out of doing something else. But I absolutely HATED poetry at the time. I was WAY out of my comfort zone. Imagine my surprise when I realised that in fact I quite liked this poetry caper after all. That alone enrished my life a great deal although I really was an utter fraud at first. Later having a single (emphasis on singular) poem published and then being introduced at a speaking gig as a ‘published poet’ made me feel an incredible fraud! I had to learn a lot and unlearn a lot of pre-existing ideas and biases. But flipping-well worth it in the end.
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I had a job interview today and was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the daily process. This is exactly what I needed to read- thank you.
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Too too true. x
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I can totally relate to this post. It’s just goes to show, with a touch of enthusiasm and determination we can achieve much more, if our imagination allows.
Thank you for the extra motivation
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Haha! Brilliant. I can relate totally – although it’s only now that I’m getting ‘good’ or better at what I do best, that I can look back and see that I’ve had to wing it a lot of the way. And I suspect to a degree, there will always bet that element to it because this, is living!!
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Thanks for this. After a crummy workweek (and it’s only TUESDAY) at my job in a creative (read: lots of intense personalities) field, I really needed to read this. Tomorrow will be better.
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[...] ++ I felt a boost of encouragement and confidence after reading about how to fake it till you make it. [...]
[...] back to faking it………I stumbled across this gem of a post by Sarah Wilson, about faking it till you make it, about just starting with what you’ve got. And [...]
[...] A lovely reader let me know that my link in yesterday’s post on ‘faking it till you make it’ by Sarah Wilson didn’t work. I’ve fixed it and It’s working now, and here it is fake it and you always make it. [...]
[...] can read Sarah’s post here… This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. ← [...]
[...] the Sarah Wilson files (boy do I wish I had read this one before I did my Leo blog…), she talks about how Michelangelo accepted the commission to paint the [...]