Act As If for Your Career
Since we’re still in the magical, fresh-start month of September, let’s continue the theme of new beginnings. Last week, image consultant Emily Katz unknowingly alluded to a little trick that I personally use all the time: act as if. Acting as if is at the root of most major changes I’ve made in my own life and work. It’s how I’ve lost 30 pounds, run marathons, gotten numerous promotions, and worked in London.
What do I mean, “act as if?”
I won’t pretend to over complicate things, as it’s quite direct and simple. I mean that if you want something – whether it’s a promotion, to start a business, or to grow your business – you must act as if it’s already true. Right now.
Actor Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight from the Office) described it to Tim Ferriss this way:
There’s this exercise you do in acting school called ‘as if…’ You just pretend as if… There’s an emotional landscape that you try to inhabit. You just go deeply in your imagination.
When I heard them talk about this, it resonated with me right away because unconsciously, I’d used this technique for a long time. I’m big on creating vision boards, setting short and long-term goals, and taking action. And to me, this step fits perfectly in-between setting your goals and the action part.
The reason is: taking action is great (obviously). However, if you don’t embody the ultimate outcomes of your actions in a deep-down way, others see right through you. Even when you think they can’t. Remember how my colleague called me out on my voicemail?
I was wondering if this was another one of “Julie’s weird things” for a few months, until one of my sponsors in a former company told me to do this very thing. Our organization was going through many changes, and I worried that I’d get passed over for the job I’d been waiting for. He said to me, “You’re on the verge of it already. Just start doing the job. Act as if it’s already yours.”
And eventually, the job did become officially mine.
