Myth: Fake It Till You Make It

What's actually true: Confidence comes from preparation and practice; you can manage nerves, but faked expertise is found out.

MythBrooks, 2014 · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, reappraising anxiety as excitement; Ranehill et al., 2015

There is no evidence that pretending to be confident builds real skill, while reframing nerves as excitement and preparing both have research support.

What the research found

Faking expertise falls apart at the first detailed question. Brooks found people who said I am excited before speaking performed better than those who tried to calm down. Real confidence grows from small, repeated wins.

What to do instead

  1. Prepare the three hardest questions.
  2. Before speaking, tell yourself: I'm excited.
  3. Say I don't know, I'll find out, when you don't know.
  4. Take small speaking chances often.

What to say

I'm excited about this meeting.

I don't know that number. I'll send it by tomorrow evening.

Avoid

Bluffing about numbers or experience you don't have.

Example

Kunal felt nervous before his first conference talk in Bengaluru. He said I'm excited to himself and opened with a story he had practised. It went well.

Practise it

Related