The concept of "fake it till you make it" isn't foreign to many of us. Hell, I use it almost every other day with my patients. However, I wouldn't recommend asking your doctor which of your pills are a placebo, that will just kill the effect. I tend to believe that a placebo is the most scientific or the closest to a scientific example of fake it till you make it.
The expression has a very negative conduit attached to it. It may come from the word "Fake" in the phrase. The word is usually attached to fraud and lies and deception. But it does work. It is a positive motto to lead your life with. There are plenty of working examples, a placebo is an inanimate, TBD version of it. Does it also have a positive effect on an individual level?
The expression, as I see it and experienced it is a kickstarter more than anything else. It is the boost one needs to leap over the barrier that prevents them from achieving a specific goal. It is the hammer that takes the wall of doubt, discouragement, and impossibility.
A job interview, a heavy project, an exam, or whatever arbitrary scenario you want to create or remember that came along with a heavy bag of doubts and uncertainty. What did you do to overcome it? Or something that you were completely uninterested in doing, but had to do it. You either pep talked yourself through it and initiated the action. What you did there was a classic "fake it till you make it" action.
"Fake" in the phrase should be taken as "believe" or a synonym to "act as if". The expression should be seen as "believe it till you achieve it". The same way posture classes increase self confidence. The posture has nothing to do with self confidence. But the "fake" persona the posture provides also boosts up the actual confidence that is seen in others with the posture.
Self-esteem is one of the things that is most commonly faked till made.
It all starts with a mirage of an image of yourself that you would like to achieve. Then it takes creating a belief system within yourself that you can become the image you have created. FInding the peculiarities of the image you have created and dressing the image up with manifestation, one step at a time.
I have tried it in multiple occasions. You have too, maybe you haven't realized its powers. The first time I realized the power it had was when I was starting up a small business and I had to "Sell" the idea to an established investor. I had to experience in major business nor did I know anything about numbers. I literally faked my brain into thinking of myself as a seasoned businessman with a ton of confidence. I had the confidence but no seasoning.
Another time that clearly sticks out is when I was first exposed to 24 or longer hour shifts in the hospital. Never did that in my life. I kept telling myself "sleep is for the weak" and kept imagining that sleep doesn't exist. What do you know? First rotation was an eye opener. I completed the shift without even thinking about sleep. Talk about "in the zone" and how to get there, right?
Recently, I have gotten involved with something I do not enjoy doing every morning. The hatred stems from a bad experience I had in the place a few weeks back. When your emotions aren't in check, hating the activity can soon result in poor productivity. WHat did I do? Every morning I woke up and brute-forced a glaring smile on my face. Right until the moment I reached the place. I literally faked getting happy and excited about it to the point that nowadays I look forward to going to the place.
Fake it till you make it works, not in the criminal sense. Ya cheeky cheeky!.
How many times have we as physicians had to pretend we know while our brain is creating the schema that explains a diagnosis? I think it is valid and correct what you expose, and by the way, I have had very good results with placebos with my patients, and it does not hurt them!