7 ms·

Act As If

192 points by michaelbuckbee 13y ago

timje1 13y ago
the site linked to (http://html9responsiveboilerstrapjs.com/ http://html9responsiveboilerstrapjs.com/) is brilliant and I love it. I have no doubt that if web application design continues at this rate, all of those words will refer to a (bleeding edge) .js framework / module within five years. It works in RubeGoldberg 2.2 but will not autocompile freeway buttmonkey merge svn commitshare javahunk
aarondf 13y ago
I think Conan has a good head on his shoulders, he was super classy with the whole Tonight Show thing. Gives good advice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr_X4w8FdGk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr_X4w8FdGk
itengelhardt 13y ago
I've seen this work in all kinds of situation. Especially with people thrown into leadership roles at young ages (e.g. military). First they are scared, but then they adjust and stick to the mantra :-)
mathattack 13y ago
Projecting confidence leads to people believing.
- timje1 13y ago
  Better than that, projecting faked confidence results in you developing real confidence. Additionally, people tend to revert to doing what is expected of them if not consciously trying to change their behaviour - if people expect you to behave confidently, you will tend to act more confident as a result.
  - mathattack 13y ago
    Both true. I think I've read research that acting confident increases your confidence. Unfortunately I can't find it handy, but I thought it was very counterintuitive.
raheemm 13y ago
This article and Conan is advising the same sentiment as being discussed at the current #1 post on HN (Fucking Sue Me) --> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6366912 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6366912. TLDR: Just do things even if you are scared about the risks.
- ctdonath 13y ago
  "although it cannot hope to be useful or informative on all matters, it does at least make the reassuring claim, that where it is inaccurate it is at least definitely inaccurate." - Douglas Adams This, perversely, has been very helpful to my confidence.
xefer 13y ago
Whenever I see that phrase I think of the scene from "Boiler Room": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BIa1N_wU0k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BIa1N_wU0k
- theorique 13y ago
  So awesome. One of the best scenes from that movie. Jim Young: There's an important phrase that we use here, and think it's time that you all learned it. Act as if. You understand what that means? Act as if you are the fucking President of this firm. Act as if you got a 9" cock. Okay? Act as if.
- dccoolgai 13y ago
  Ditto... this is the one role that kind of makes me think Affleck might actually be halfway decent as batman. He knocked that "slimy stock broker" role out of the park in that movie.
ctdonath 13y ago
Most people assume the term "expert" applies to someone who knows [pretty much] everything there is to know about a given subject. I've learned that "expert" really applies to someone who knows more about the subject than anyone else involved or available...and that knowledge may very well be next to nothing. I'd been coming to this conclusion, which finally sunk in when my wife, working at a top consulting company, was told "If you can spell 'Cognos' you're an expert" (with implication said "expert" would be on the next plane and billed out at several hundred dollars an hour). "Impostor Syndrome" kicks in when you do know more about the subject than anyone else involved or available, and you know that knowledge is next to nothing.
- TelmoMenezes 13y ago
  Ok, so now we need a new word for people that actually know stuff.
  - mistercow 13y ago
    That wouldn't help, I think. The problem is that the more you know, the less you feel like you know. A high school student with an A in his honor's physics class probably feels like he knows more of what there is to know about physics than Michio Kaku feels like he knows.
    - 1123581321 13y ago
      More interactions between novices, intermediates and experts make it possible to identify experts. The physics student can only believe in their false expertise until "shown up" by someone who knows and/or does physics for a living; likewise those people need to interact with students to realize that they do know something. It is easiest if a competent guild, association or governing body can set a permission-to-play standard to govern alongside a peer-review system for publishing and a merit-based system or awards for discoveries -- and all in the field should be encouraged to measure themselves against these systems and be rejected or accepted to learn more about themselves and their field.
callmeed 13y ago
Seriously, WTF. I hate this "fake it til you make it attitude" and I see it both in the startup industry and the one we work in (photography). This works for Conan and actors because the worst-case is he has a bad show. It can work in an investor pitch meeting because the worst-case is you bomb and they don't invest. But once you're providing a professional service to someone else (consulting, wedding photography, training) or leading employees at a company, you have no effing business pretending to be something you're not. - If you've never at least attempted to start a business, you have no business coaching people in lean startup methodologies and taking their money. - If you've never assisted at a wedding and learned your camera, you have no business buying an SLR at Costco and taking money to photograph someone's wedding. - If you don't know anything about basic web app security, you have no business taking someone's money and building them an ecommerce site. Yes, at a certain point you can learn new things as you go. But IMO too many people are straight-up lying about what they are and what they know. I feel the concepts of humility, apprenticeship, and a desire for learning/mastery are being lost in favor of "act as if" and "get big fast". --- EDIT: I get now that this article is addressed to those with impostor syndrome and not actual impostors. Personally I think actual impostors are more endemic and just as likely to latch onto advice like this.
- michaelbuckbee 13y ago
  Yeah, for what it's worth I do agree with you. To my way of thinking this is something that's aimed much more at easing the social interactions surrounding a startup than the hard work of actually delivering the value. But, I think to really be successful you need both.
- jackschultz 13y ago
  I don't think that's what this article is getting at. My interpretation was that if you get put into an intimidating situation, you should act like you belong even if you don't feel like you do. This has nothing to do with impersonation, but rather moving up a level in something you already do.
- tvon 13y ago
  I think you are taking the advice to the extreme, well past what is intended.
mcv 13y ago
Huh. That H9RBS.js sounds pretty neat. Can't believe I hadn't heard of it yet. I'll see if I can use it for my next enterprise thing.
Fuxy 13y ago
I got a better way stop idolizing these people they're all on this spinning dirt ball. Just do it and don't make a big deal out of it.
- rmcastil 13y ago
  I'm the author of the "further reading" article in the post and this is exactly how I deal with my bouts with impostor syndrome. I've been around enough "experts" to know they're just average guys/gals like the rest of us. They breath the same air and have all of the same emotions.
j45 13y ago
There is a subtle, but huge difference between thinking less of yourself vs thinking less about yourself. Just the same, there is a subtle, and huge difference between fake it till you make it, vs being positively unreasonable, relentless, and always moving inward, onward, upward. The difference is one seeks external validation / approval / reinforcement to overcome insecurities and self-worth issues, and the later is a friend and supporter to themselves. Which do you want to be? The same person who's getting better every day by cultivating and developing a healthy, realistic, inner dialogue and support, or lying to yourself and everyone around you? I pick keeping it real because I want real people and real things in my life. I pick not being above solving problems that are beneath so many programmers. I pick seeing the difference a one page script can make in someone's life as much as working out the most intricate and grande architecture as an effigy to myself. I heard in my 20's that the 20's is the hardest years. Everyone's faking it but feeling alone and trying to figure it out. It's no wonder why some funders like focusing on entrepreneurs in their 20's vs later when they have a more well rounded sense of the world, self and more. The quicker you learn you aren't the first to go though pretty much anything in the world, the quicker you'll be free to truly experiment, be creative, take chances and achieve because there are others who you can connect with. Don't look to others. Leadership is first about learning to lead yourself, not others. If people like how you lead yourself, they join you for a much longer haul. If you're leading yourself to be a bullshitter, guess what you got around you. Hang around with shit, or be shit, and you'll end up staying that way. Edit: Doubt worshipping Downmodderz, be more than invisible, speak up, let's chat, no need to hide behind your mouse :).
kyro 13y ago
I think Conan's "act as if" advice unknowingly points to a whole field of research that claims that your actions and ideas are reciprocally linked. That is, if your idea of yourself is that you're confident, you'll act like it. Conversely, if you act like you're confident, your mind will develop the belief that you are truly confident. A great book that discusses this topic is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
justinlloyd 13y ago
Telling someone with "Impostor Syndrome" to "act like you've made it, because you have" is like telling someone with severe clinical depression they "just need to cheer up."
- bobbles 13y ago
  Whenever I'm in one of my 'should I really be here?' moments, having someone ask a difficult question (ie. difficult for them) usually tears me back out of it. We all have different influence and interests in our lives. You can know more about X than anyone else in the room and not even know that Y existed. The important thing is to make sure you interact with enough Ys to broaden your horizons.
- rmcastil 13y ago
  To be fair to Mike he does say "Nothing is a cure all". I agree with your point though. Different people have this condition at different degrees and there is no such thing as a catch all solution. Some people need mantras and some people need medicine or whatever else it takes to help them make it day by day.
- gfosco 13y ago
  Pretty much... but what else can you say? I'm suffering from Impostor Syndrome pretty bad, after moving across the country alone and going from being a big fish in a small pond, to a small fish in a big pond. Every day I am killing myself over this, and it's not healthy. I know I should accept the fact that I'm doing well, but I haven't yet.
nether 13y ago
Medium's articles seem really trite.
robterrell 13y ago
Vonnegut: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Without impostor syndrome nagging at me constantly, it's likely I would be an insufferable ass. (Well, even MORE so.) It's weird, but I like it.
ilaksh 13y ago
I don't feel like an imposter. Maybe some if you people are full of crap and pretended you knew stuff you don't in order to get a job or funding. Then you really are an imposter and that's why you feel that way.
diminoten 13y ago
I've always told myself, "People do this all the time, and they succeeded." It's kind of like "act as if". Also, I've taken, "Agree and escalate" from improv and applied it to my real life, with mixed results.
kefs 13y ago
I'm surprised no one linked to Amy Cuddy's very relevant TED Talk.. Great watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc
joshuaheard 13y ago
This reminds me of a book I read 30 years ago called "Winning Through Intimidation" (http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Through-Intimidation-Robert-Ringer/dp/0449207862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378971890&sr=8-1&keywords=winning+through+intimidation http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Through-Intimidation-Robert-Ri...). The book recommends that you dress, act, and basically pretend you are successful. People will then believe you are successful and want to do business with you. You then become a success.

192 points by michaelbuckbee 13y ago

the site linked to (http://html9responsiveboilerstrapjs.com/ http://html9responsiveboilerstrapjs.com/) is brilliant and I love it. I have no doubt that if web application design continues at this rate, all of those words will refer to a (bleeding edge) .js framework / module within five years. It works in RubeGoldberg 2.2 but will not autocompile freeway buttmonkey merge svn commitshare javahunk

aarondf 13y ago

I think Conan has a good head on his shoulders, he was super classy with the whole Tonight Show thing. Gives good advice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr_X4w8FdGk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr_X4w8FdGk

itengelhardt 13y ago

I've seen this work in all kinds of situation. Especially with people thrown into leadership roles at young ages (e.g. military). First they are scared, but then they adjust and stick to the mantra :-)

mathattack 13y ago

Projecting confidence leads to people believing.

timje1 13y ago
Better than that, projecting faked confidence results in you developing real confidence. Additionally, people tend to revert to doing what is expected of them if not consciously trying to change their behaviour - if people expect you to behave confidently, you will tend to act more confident as a result.
- mathattack 13y ago
  Both true. I think I've read research that acting confident increases your confidence. Unfortunately I can't find it handy, but I thought it was very counterintuitive.

raheemm 13y ago

This article and Conan is advising the same sentiment as being discussed at the current #1 post on HN (Fucking Sue Me) --> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6366912 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6366912. TLDR: Just do things even if you are scared about the risks.

ctdonath 13y ago
"although it cannot hope to be useful or informative on all matters, it does at least make the reassuring claim, that where it is inaccurate it is at least definitely inaccurate." - Douglas Adams This, perversely, has been very helpful to my confidence.

xefer 13y ago

Whenever I see that phrase I think of the scene from "Boiler Room": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BIa1N_wU0k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BIa1N_wU0k

theorique 13y ago
So awesome. One of the best scenes from that movie. Jim Young: There's an important phrase that we use here, and think it's time that you all learned it. Act as if. You understand what that means? Act as if you are the fucking President of this firm. Act as if you got a 9" cock. Okay? Act as if.
dccoolgai 13y ago
Ditto... this is the one role that kind of makes me think Affleck might actually be halfway decent as batman. He knocked that "slimy stock broker" role out of the park in that movie.

ctdonath 13y ago

Most people assume the term "expert" applies to someone who knows [pretty much] everything there is to know about a given subject. I've learned that "expert" really applies to someone who knows more about the subject than anyone else involved or available...and that knowledge may very well be next to nothing. I'd been coming to this conclusion, which finally sunk in when my wife, working at a top consulting company, was told "If you can spell 'Cognos' you're an expert" (with implication said "expert" would be on the next plane and billed out at several hundred dollars an hour). "Impostor Syndrome" kicks in when you do know more about the subject than anyone else involved or available, and you know that knowledge is next to nothing.

TelmoMenezes 13y ago
Ok, so now we need a new word for people that actually know stuff.
- mistercow 13y ago
  That wouldn't help, I think. The problem is that the more you know, the less you feel like you know. A high school student with an A in his honor's physics class probably feels like he knows more of what there is to know about physics than Michio Kaku feels like he knows.
  - 1123581321 13y ago
    More interactions between novices, intermediates and experts make it possible to identify experts. The physics student can only believe in their false expertise until "shown up" by someone who knows and/or does physics for a living; likewise those people need to interact with students to realize that they do know something. It is easiest if a competent guild, association or governing body can set a permission-to-play standard to govern alongside a peer-review system for publishing and a merit-based system or awards for discoveries -- and all in the field should be encouraged to measure themselves against these systems and be rejected or accepted to learn more about themselves and their field.

callmeed 13y ago

Seriously, WTF. I hate this "fake it til you make it attitude" and I see it both in the startup industry and the one we work in (photography). This works for Conan and actors because the worst-case is he has a bad show. It can work in an investor pitch meeting because the worst-case is you bomb and they don't invest. But once you're providing a professional service to someone else (consulting, wedding photography, training) or leading employees at a company, you have no effing business pretending to be something you're not. - If you've never at least attempted to start a business, you have no business coaching people in lean startup methodologies and taking their money. - If you've never assisted at a wedding and learned your camera, you have no business buying an SLR at Costco and taking money to photograph someone's wedding. - If you don't know anything about basic web app security, you have no business taking someone's money and building them an ecommerce site. Yes, at a certain point you can learn new things as you go. But IMO too many people are straight-up lying about what they are and what they know. I feel the concepts of humility, apprenticeship, and a desire for learning/mastery are being lost in favor of "act as if" and "get big fast". --- EDIT: I get now that this article is addressed to those with impostor syndrome and not actual impostors. Personally I think actual impostors are more endemic and just as likely to latch onto advice like this.

michaelbuckbee 13y ago
Yeah, for what it's worth I do agree with you. To my way of thinking this is something that's aimed much more at easing the social interactions surrounding a startup than the hard work of actually delivering the value. But, I think to really be successful you need both.
jackschultz 13y ago
I don't think that's what this article is getting at. My interpretation was that if you get put into an intimidating situation, you should act like you belong even if you don't feel like you do. This has nothing to do with impersonation, but rather moving up a level in something you already do.
tvon 13y ago
I think you are taking the advice to the extreme, well past what is intended.

mcv 13y ago

Huh. That H9RBS.js sounds pretty neat. Can't believe I hadn't heard of it yet. I'll see if I can use it for my next enterprise thing.

Fuxy 13y ago

I got a better way stop idolizing these people they're all on this spinning dirt ball. Just do it and don't make a big deal out of it.

rmcastil 13y ago
I'm the author of the "further reading" article in the post and this is exactly how I deal with my bouts with impostor syndrome. I've been around enough "experts" to know they're just average guys/gals like the rest of us. They breath the same air and have all of the same emotions.

j45 13y ago

There is a subtle, but huge difference between thinking less of yourself vs thinking less about yourself. Just the same, there is a subtle, and huge difference between fake it till you make it, vs being positively unreasonable, relentless, and always moving inward, onward, upward. The difference is one seeks external validation / approval / reinforcement to overcome insecurities and self-worth issues, and the later is a friend and supporter to themselves. Which do you want to be? The same person who's getting better every day by cultivating and developing a healthy, realistic, inner dialogue and support, or lying to yourself and everyone around you? I pick keeping it real because I want real people and real things in my life. I pick not being above solving problems that are beneath so many programmers. I pick seeing the difference a one page script can make in someone's life as much as working out the most intricate and grande architecture as an effigy to myself. I heard in my 20's that the 20's is the hardest years. Everyone's faking it but feeling alone and trying to figure it out. It's no wonder why some funders like focusing on entrepreneurs in their 20's vs later when they have a more well rounded sense of the world, self and more. The quicker you learn you aren't the first to go though pretty much anything in the world, the quicker you'll be free to truly experiment, be creative, take chances and achieve because there are others who you can connect with. Don't look to others. Leadership is first about learning to lead yourself, not others. If people like how you lead yourself, they join you for a much longer haul. If you're leading yourself to be a bullshitter, guess what you got around you. Hang around with shit, or be shit, and you'll end up staying that way. Edit: Doubt worshipping Downmodderz, be more than invisible, speak up, let's chat, no need to hide behind your mouse :).

kyro 13y ago

I think Conan's "act as if" advice unknowingly points to a whole field of research that claims that your actions and ideas are reciprocally linked. That is, if your idea of yourself is that you're confident, you'll act like it. Conversely, if you act like you're confident, your mind will develop the belief that you are truly confident. A great book that discusses this topic is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

justinlloyd 13y ago

Telling someone with "Impostor Syndrome" to "act like you've made it, because you have" is like telling someone with severe clinical depression they "just need to cheer up."

bobbles 13y ago
Whenever I'm in one of my 'should I really be here?' moments, having someone ask a difficult question (ie. difficult for them) usually tears me back out of it. We all have different influence and interests in our lives. You can know more about X than anyone else in the room and not even know that Y existed. The important thing is to make sure you interact with enough Ys to broaden your horizons.
rmcastil 13y ago
To be fair to Mike he does say "Nothing is a cure all". I agree with your point though. Different people have this condition at different degrees and there is no such thing as a catch all solution. Some people need mantras and some people need medicine or whatever else it takes to help them make it day by day.
gfosco 13y ago
Pretty much... but what else can you say? I'm suffering from Impostor Syndrome pretty bad, after moving across the country alone and going from being a big fish in a small pond, to a small fish in a big pond. Every day I am killing myself over this, and it's not healthy. I know I should accept the fact that I'm doing well, but I haven't yet.

nether 13y ago

Medium's articles seem really trite.

robterrell 13y ago

Vonnegut: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Without impostor syndrome nagging at me constantly, it's likely I would be an insufferable ass. (Well, even MORE so.) It's weird, but I like it.

ilaksh 13y ago

I don't feel like an imposter. Maybe some if you people are full of crap and pretended you knew stuff you don't in order to get a job or funding. Then you really are an imposter and that's why you feel that way.

diminoten 13y ago

I've always told myself, "People do this all the time, and they succeeded." It's kind of like "act as if". Also, I've taken, "Agree and escalate" from improv and applied it to my real life, with mixed results.

kefs 13y ago

I'm surprised no one linked to Amy Cuddy's very relevant TED Talk.. Great watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

joshuaheard 13y ago

This reminds me of a book I read 30 years ago called "Winning Through Intimidation" (http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Through-Intimidation-Robert-Ringer/dp/0449207862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378971890&sr=8-1&keywords=winning+through+intimidation http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Through-Intimidation-Robert-Ri...). The book recommends that you dress, act, and basically pretend you are successful. People will then believe you are successful and want to do business with you. You then become a success.