Why ‘Fake It ‘Til You Make It’ Leaves Many Professionals Stuck

The expression, “Fake it ‘til you make it” is enduring career advice often given with good intentions, especially in demanding professions where confidence is expected long before anyone fully feels it.

The expression tells people to project confidence and certainty—speak decisively, don’t show any doubts—on the premise that actual competence will follow naturally.

This approach sometimes works. But over time, as responsibility grows and the stakes are higher, a “fake-it-‘til-you-make-it” approach can undermine the very confidence it was meant to build.

Let’s acknowledge where it’s helpful. Taking action can reduce hesitation. For overthinkers or those plagued with self-doubt, projecting confidence can help when insecurities might have held them back.

Learning by doing is powerful. For example, law school doesn’t teach how to practice law. Judgment and credibility are developed on the job, through repetition and correction. Acting confidently can help young professionals get through that early learning curve. And in certain roles such as sales, confidence is rewarded and an appearance of certainty opens doors.

So “fake it ‘til you make it” can function as a bridge between inexperience and growth. The problem is when that bridge becomes the unreliable foundation.

Over time, I’ve seen “fake it ‘til you make it” taking up precious mental space. Instead of focusing on improving judgment, preparation, and situational awareness, “fake it ‘til you make it” puts the focus on managing perception: how confident one sounds, how little uncertainty creeps in, and how decisive one appears.

As professionals advance their careers, they’re expected not only to appear capable, but also to exercise sound judgment under pressure. Spending too much energy projecting certainty leaves less energy for reflection and discernment.

The result can be a fragile form of confidence that cracks under pressure. Confidence built on projection often depends on reassurances—positive feedback, visible approval, or the absence of challenge.

As responsibility grows, the stakes rise. Decisions carry greater consequences, scrutiny of outcomes increases, and the margin for error narrows. At the same time, direct challenge may decrease; colleagues can hesitate to question a senior leader openly. Silence can signal agreement—or deference. When confidence relies on reassurances, it becomes harder to tell the difference.

Many people end up feeling like they’re performing a role they never quite grew into, wondering when they’re supposed to arrive. Both social science research and lived experience suggest that feelings of self-doubt (sometimes referred to as imposter syndrome) often increase rather than decrease with success.

A 2024 Korn Ferry study found that 71% of CEOs in the US struggle with imposter syndrome. For women and professionals from historically excluded groups, these dynamics often are intensified. Expectations may be less forgiving, missteps more visible, and role models harder to find.

In those contexts, projecting confidence can require sustained performance of someone else’s version of leadership—and may create distance from one’s values, instincts, and sense of self.

Eventually, fragile confidence has external consequences. Clients and colleagues may not always expect certainty, but they notice when your confidence speaks louder than your competency. Walking things back, quietly reversing course, or doubling down to avoid admitting uncertainty carries reputational cost, particularly in professions such as law, where trust compounds slowly and erodes quickly.

What helped someone accelerate in their career can end up limiting how far they can go, much like training wheels that are useful at the start but prevent true balance once speed and complexity increase.

Taking Risks

Over time, many professionals discover that appearing confident and being confident aren’t the same thing. That realization invites a different question: When will success start to feel real? Not because others reassured you, but because you trusted your own judgment and knew you could recover when things didn’t go as planned.

In other words, not when others believe in you but when you believe in yourself. When you had confidence in your abilities, including your ability to navigate uncertainty, adjust, and grow through experience.

That distinction marks a shift from faked confidence to true self-efficacy. So, how do we get there?

Real confidence develops through action, learning, and alignment—not imitation. When professionals feel pressured to adopt a version of confidence that isn’t theirs, they often stop experimenting, avoid risk, and wait for permission or certainty that never comes.

Professionals can focus on taking small, deliberate risks aligned with their values:

• Speaking up once in a meeting
• Asking a clarifying question about expectations
• Testing a pilot approach
• Trying a stretch role for a defined period
• Offering an initial view while being clear about what still requires confirmation

Taking manageable risks keeps momentum going. Each action, whether it lands well or not, provides feedback. Feedback enables learning and adjustment. Recovery builds resilience. Over time, this produces self-efficacy and the deep knowledge you can handle uncertainty rather than mask it.

By taking small actions aligned with our values, we move closer to understanding the circumstances, environments, and relationships that enable success. That lived understanding creates deeper courage and strengthens our sense of self.

This approach requires reflection. But time spent examining what worked, what didn’t, and what needs adjustment is often more productive than trying to project someone else’s version of confidence.

Reflection can take many forms, such as journaling and reaching out to trusted mentors and accountability partners. Structured executive coaching can support this process by helping professionals identify what is getting in the way and move forward with clarity rather than performance.

Ultimately, confidence grounded in lived experience and reflection is the kind that’s portable and durable. It doesn’t depend on constant approval, and it doesn’t collapse when supports falter or conditions change.

“Fake it ‘til you make it” can help people get started. It’s far less effective at helping them grow.

In complex, high-stakes professions, confidence isn’t something to perform. It’s something to build—carefully, honestly, and over time—through experience that strengthens judgment rather than substitutes for it.

Let confidence grow from a lived experience, not performance.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law, Bloomberg Tax, and Bloomberg Government, or its owners.

Author Information

Jamie Kohen is a lawyer, certified executive coach, and leadership trainer who works with attorneys and professionals across law firms, legal departments, and other companies.

Write for Us: Author Guidelines