Calling All Imposters: Fake It Till You Make It

[This post was edited for clarity and readability on 09/17/2025.]

Are you a high achiever who secretly fears being exposed as a fraud?

I know a surprising number of successful people who attribute their achievements to luck. Whether you call it self doubt or the inner critic, I’m very familiar with that voice inside my head. In fact, with my roster of doubts, insecurities, self-judgment, and fears, I’m practically a professional faker who could be the president of the Imposters Club. But I’ve also found the antidote: Fake It Till You Make It.

To be clear, I’m not talking about deception, lying, or false bravado; I'm using “Fake it” with some irony. The idea behind Fake it Till You Make it (FITYMI) is that if you consistently act like the person you aspire to be, you will eventually become that person. It's about choosing to believe in yourself—even when it doesn’t come naturally—and deciding to take action. By acting like you are already competent and confident in what you’re doing, you can make those things a reality. In other words, show up and start practicing.

It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers at first. Start out by relying on your gut and instincts. Then, as you go through the motions and accumulate experience, you'll start to embody the qualities you wish you had and prove to yourself that you are not an imposter after all. Our brains have the capability to adapt and learn through changes in behavior and thinking; we are not hard-wired. By having new experiences and learning, we can rewire our brains, creating new neural connections.

FITYMI means taking risks, which requires courage. Here's a simple framework to get started:

• Start small (remember Start Where You Are?): Begin by taking risks in situations where stakes are low. Then practice, practice, practice

• Embrace failure: See it as a learning opportunity. Take time to reflect on what went well, and what could be improved.

• Recognize your progress. Acknowledge your small wins and give yourself credit. As others show they believe in you, you'll start to believe in yourself and feel more confident.

And there you have it - growth mindset! This is how I applied the FITYMI strategy to conquer my own fears.

My Journey: Overcoming The Fear of Public Speaking

Once upon a time, I was terrified of presenting and being the center of attention. I felt that I just wasn’t good at it and could not speak with the confidence and ease that everyone else seemed to have. Just the idea of it made me physically nervous—my heart would beat wildly and my body would tense up. However, I also recognized that it was a useful and important skill to have if I wanted to be successful at work, so I decided to work on it.

I created as many opportunities as possible to speak in front of a group. I raised my hand at work to present my team's work to execs. At the beginning, it was both time-consuming and terrifying. I wrote out every single word I was going to say, practiced out loud by myself, and kept editing my script until it sounded the way I wanted. Since I still lacked confidence, I then practiced it with a small audience—usually my husband—for a second opinion. When it was time to present, I kept my speaker notes with me as a crutch.

It was around this time that I got certified as a yoga teacher and started teaching weekly classes. Every week, I wrote out my entire sequence and practiced it the night before from start to finish, keeping my notes close by as I taught. Before each class, I usually felt anxious for a full hour leading up to the class, where I was in the uncomfortable position of having to be “on” in front of a group of people for sixty minutes.

Then I got an email announcing a new career development program at Google called Stretch with a call for facilitators. I applied and went through a train-the-trainer session. I was a Stretch facilitator for several years, and it was a great experience learning to present pre-existing materials and facilitate discussions with a group of learners I had just met.

The next year, I signed up to do a short “lightning talk” at a national conference for program managers. I spent lots of time researching and compiling content, and again I wrote out everything I wanted to say. That same year, someone approached me about conducting a leadership workshop at the summit. At the time I was practicing saying “yes” to scary things, so I agreed to do it. This required developing all the materials as well as leading the workshop. It was my first time creating a workshop and I had no idea what I was doing, but I drew inspiration from Stretch and other professional development programs, did lots of research, and cobbled together an agenda. In the end, I led a 90-minute workshop with about 200 participants and a dozen assistant facilitators. It was terrifying, chaotic, and exhilarating.

All of this happened over the course of a few years. It was not a quick and easy process, but at some point I stopped being nervous about teaching yoga classes and no longer needed the extensive preparation. I gained confidence as a speaker and facilitator, relying less on a well-rehearsed script, until one day I realized that I wasn’t terrified anymore and I might have even enjoyed myself in the process. Most importantly, I am able to say with confidence that I’m quite good at it now!

Building a Muscle For New Challenges

This wasn't just about public speaking; it was about building a muscle I would use again and again. This experience gave me confidence to stretch myself in multiple other situations. A few years ago, I took on a new role where I was tasked with building an insider risk program from the ground up. When I first learned about the job, I had no idea what insider risk was, or what the difference was between security & privacy. But I knew I could apply my past experience and was willing to do the work to learn. I took chances and put myself out there, sharing my ideas even when I had no idea if people would tell me they were terrible. It was stressful and scary, but I just kept taking steps forward. I shared what my new team was doing whenever I had the chance - success stories, best practices, and challenges - and we soon earned a positive reputation for the progress we were able to make.

FITYMI probably won’t make you completely immune to imposter syndrome, but it’s a muscle you can build so that when fear show up, your default response changes from inaction to action. I still grapple with it from time to time when facing a new challenge, but I now have the experience to know that my FITYMI strategy can work in a number of situations. It's a muscle you can build, and with every small step you take, you'll prove to yourself that you were never faking it after all.

• Related: Amy Cuddy Ted Talk “Fake it Till you Make It” - changing the shape of your body through power poses to boost your confidence and how others perceive you.