Fake it till you make it

"Fake it till you make it" (or "Fake it until you make it") is an aphorism that suggests that by imitating confidence, competence, and an optimistic mindset, a person can realize those qualities in their real life and achieve the results they seek.

[4] The earliest reference to a similar phrase occurs in the Simon & Garfunkel song "Fakin' It", released in 1968 as a single and also on their Bookends album.

This strategy gave his clients an opportunity to practice alternatives to dysfunctional behaviors.

[citation needed] "Faking it till you make it" is a psychological tool discussed in neuroscientific research.

[9][10][11] A 1988 experiment by Fritz Strack claimed to show that mood can be improved by holding a pen between the user's teeth to force a smile,[8] but a posterior experiment failed to replicate it, due to which Strack was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for psychology in 2019.