Is Faking It a good idea?

I'm sure you've heard the saying 'Fake it till you make it'.

I've always disliked that. Probably because I have such a high value on authenticity and being the real you and true to yourself in all contexts.

But here's a lady who's reshaped my thinking ..

Here name is Amy Cuddy and she's a social psychologist. I watched her Ted Talk on 'Your Body Language shapes who you are'. It's a great presentation, and I recommend it to you if you have a spare 21 minutes. (It's had over 5 million views, so I'm not alone in being impressed by it!)

I was delighted to hear her echo what I talk about in my workshops - that your body language speaks not only to others ... but also to you. How you hold your body impacts not only your thoughts, emotions and subsequent actions, but Amy explains how your body positioning alos affects your hormones - particularly testosterone and cortisol. Fascinating.

But what I really loved was her take on the saying 'Fake it till you make it'. She shares her own personal story about what 'faking it' feels like ... and suggests a better, more useful saying for us would be Fake it till you BECOME it.

It's all about being real - really good food for thought.

If you want to skip the more scientific, research stuff, advanced the video to 15 minutes and 40 seconds - that's where she tells her very moving and impactful story.

You can find Amy's presentation here: http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html

And let me know what you think by leaving a comment on this post - I'd love to hear from you!

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