A couple of weeks ago, I talked about confidence, and how I need it in order to write. \u00a0Sometimes, however, the confidence just isn’t there. \u00a0During those tremulous times, when to do nothing means failure, I fake it. \u00a0I pretend I have the confidence, and move forward.<\/p>\n
It’s not just with writing that I do this, though. \u00a0I do this during swing band. \u00a0I’ll look at a part of music that I have no idea how to play, like a long section of improv, and fake it. \u00a0It’s amazing how often this works out. \u00a0We are capable of doing much more than we think we can.<\/p>\n
In the last few days, I’ve found myself in a position where I needed to give some advice. \u00a0I won’t go into the specifics, because the matters in every case were private. \u00a0But in every case, the advice ultimately came down to the same thing: If you feel weak, if you feel overwhelmed, if you feel like your best just isn’t enough, pretend\u00a0otherwise.<\/p>\n
Be real with your loved ones. \u00a0Be real where it counts. \u00a0But when it comes to adversity and you need to move forward,\u00a0the best thing you can do is set aside what you think is real. \u00a0You might fail anyways, but failure is not the worst thing in the world.<\/p>\n
The worst thing in the world is letting a moment get away from you, and wondering what would have happened if you’d taken a leap of faith.<\/p>\n
If you find yourself on the edge of a dance floor, wanting to have fun, but afraid because you don’t know how to dance… fake it. \u00a0Of course you know how to dance. \u00a0Dancing is easy.<\/p>\n
If you find yourself staring at a sheet of music, with 32 measures of chords instead of notes, and you’re afraid that you’re going to mess up your solo… fake it. \u00a0Stand up, fill your lungs, and blow. \u00a0If you can’t play it right, then play it loud. \u00a0You can do loud. \u00a0Music is easy.<\/p>\n
If you find yourself staring at a blank page, with your head full of imagery and characters, but the words just aren’t coming… fake it. \u00a0Write anything. \u00a0There are people that have written some really terrible things, but still managed to get some sales because, in spite of their malicious use of words, they managed to convey cool ideas. \u00a0You have cool ideas. \u00a0So write them down. \u00a0You can do it. \u00a0Writing is easy.<\/p>\n
(Quick note: in that last example, if you’re one of my writer friends, I’m not talking about you. \u00a0I’m thinking more along the lines of L Ron Hubbard. \u00a0Or E L James. \u00a0Or Stephanie Meyer. \u00a0And if you’re fans of their work… great! \u00a0You’re not alone, but I’m not one of their fans.)<\/p>\n
Fake it long enough, and you WILL make it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about confidence, and how I need it in order to write. \u00a0Sometimes, however, the confidence just isn’t there. \u00a0During those tremulous times, when to do nothing means failure, I fake it. \u00a0I pretend I have the confidence, and move forward. It’s not just with writing that I do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}