Fake it Until You Become It
In what I consider to be a classic Ted Talk, Amy Cuddy took the self-motivational advice, "fake it til you make it," and flipped it. She discovered after a debilitating incident in her life that we not only think ourselves into doing, we can behave ourselves into being, for better or worse.
Since Cuddy's talk "fake it until you become it," has been a part of my mental vocabulary.
Cuddy is not alone nor did she originate this concept. It's likely as old as humanity. It has probably been used to domesticate humans and is no doubt still used to control us. The breakthrough comes with the understanding that if we can indeed be programmed, we can and should be programming ourselves in order to be the selves we want to be.
The "fake it until you become it," credo is also a tenet of neural linguistic programming (NLP) as well as self hypnosis, to which NLP is not only associated with, but derived from.
With that lengthy, yet vague carpet laid out, I can now get to the point... Me.
I think that the time might be arriving for yet another reinvention of Yours Truly. The wondering nomad lifestyle my not be wholly sustainable. I am not searching for myself nor am I running from my self. Actually, I am comfortable alone to the extent that I can spend long periods of time alone and talking to no one aside from my higher, (or lower) self, including the chronicles of my daily do, which is often not very much.
This current journey could possibly, if I allow it to, bring me down to zero, or close to it. Similar to, but not exactly how the military attempts to break a candidate down and rebuild them into a "killing machine." Once whatever clouds have been dispersed and cobwebs cleared I'll be able to decide who I want to be and how I will program that behaviour. Whatever that is, it will have to be authentic otherwise the program won't take.
Some of the choices that come immediately to mind are, Urban Commando, but I don't really know what that is... and it's probably only first because it's the mindset I'd been in for so long. In fact, I really should leave that one alone.
Elite Athlete comes to mind. I really should have put that in quotes, because "elite" suggests the few at the top... the best... and I don't really have that kind of competitive spirit in me. But then again, maybe I do and this exercise is encouraging me to let it out.
Hmmmm.
So what would it entail being an elite athlete?
First of all, a competitive spirit. Okay. Maybe I can pull that off without hating myself.
Secondly, training and conditioning. For that I will eventually require a coach. But I must take it as far as I can go on my own. That probably requires a more stationary lifestyle and the discipline that comes with it. So that's something to aim for. Until then however, I'll do what I can. I had a pretty good routine going before I left Kamala.
Third... I'll have to test it; against the clock, against weight, against other athletes.
Perhaps it's time to create a vision wall... or better a vision blog. Time to bring back Bajai Bootcamp, which would be ending in 19 days if I'd continued through the year.
Okay. Let me wrap this up. This should be my entry into this new(er) version of me. Perhaps I will transition from world nomad to world traveling athlete.
But, oh yeah... how do I fake it until I become it? How do I program myself to become this?
I guess I can go back to my Urban Commando persona; when people asked why I trained I told them, "to be an old man in a hostile world." It was my strategy to look the part, moreso than be a soldier on the streets. For the most part it worked. Once I took that attitude, adopted the attire, put in the time and effort, my posture and countenance changed - hassles and attacks dropped to zero. Before this I'd been threatened, harassed and even what the police report described as "strong-armed." I won a few battles and I lost a few. I walked away from them all.
Perhaps the same idea applies, however I might have to start doing more athletic stuff than just lifting weights and walking for hours.
This is all stuff for me to think about, plan and work towards. "Planning," being a major part of the strategy.
Okay, time to wrap this up. Let's see where it goes. Let's see if I'm authentic or just pullin' my pud.
