Nº210 — Fake it ’til you make it | Stubborn Optimism for 2021 & Beyond

Hey!

How’s your weekend so far? I opted to play catch-up a bit today & took strides to get ahead as I’ll be traveling early next week.

And, if you think you’ve seen this subject line before, you’re right. Back in Feb 2019, I asked: “Fake it ’til you make it or grit it ’til you get it?” It was about, Angela Duckworth’s basic formula:

talent x effort = skill

skill x effort = achievement

I have my same sentiment of preferring grit over faking it but this week recycling the headline seemed appropriate as I saw several articles recently riffing on this idea:

• one about imposter syndrome in parenting with the same title
• the NYT article at end of this issue about how Gillian Welch and David Rawlings held onto optimism in 2020
• one on faking optimism until it works by R.O. Kwon.

A quote of Kwon’s worth sharing as 2020 begins to wind down with its emblematic uncertainty and ubiquitous obstacles:

“Hope is not just a feeling; like love, it is a practice. It is a verb. It is action.”

Like both linked articles above posit: mind over matter, simply does matter. Especially when it comes to optimism and hope. To me, the real secret sauce is that this mindset isn’t solely your own subconscious, hope is contagious too.