How to Fake it, Cuddy Style

Have you ever read, watched, heard, or seen something that just seems to stick in your mind for some amount of time?  It might be a new insight, a catchy phrase, or a meaningful quote that has some connection to your life.  For me, this epiphany came sometime during my junior year of college when I was sitting in a 300 plus person lecture hall in a required business leadership class.  On this particular day in class we paused from our regular, monotonous lecture to watch a Ted Talks video.  This may have been the first time I came to know what a Ted Talks video was now that I'm thinking about it.  If you aren't familiar with the Ted Talks series or the Ted organization, below is a description of their mission, via Ted.com.

The twenty-minute and something second video we watched in class feautures a social psychologist by the name of Amy Cuddy. According to the New York Times,  Cuddy's Ted Talk is ranked number two  on the list of "Most viewed Ted Talks of all time" with just over twenty million views. Throughout the video, Cuddy harps on body language and how it is perceived not only by those around us but how we notice and take in our own body language. Cuddy touches on the natural human and animal characteristics of body language such as opening our arms up when we're feeling powerful, or sinking down when we feel inferior.  While this is interesting Cuddy really hooked me around the seven minute marker when she mentions the commonly heard phrase "fake it until you make it."  She explains this thought by saying that even if you don't feel powerful or happy, if you pretend to be a certain way then you will think and embrace that feeling.  Cuddy then goes on to discuss "power posing." Cuddy argues that standing in a power pose, such as standing with your hands on your hips for just two minutes while looking into the mirror can significantly increase your confidence due to varying levels of cortisol and testosterone in the brain.  Below are the pictures of the high-power and low-power poses Cuddy shared during her presentation.

With roughly four minutes left in the video Cuddy flips the script and tells a personal story of how she got to be who she is today.  She tells a traumatic story of her battle to recuperate from a horrific car accident, and in doing so she mentions how she got into Princeton and felt like she was a wasn't meant to be there. Cuddy discusses feeling paralyzed, and filled with anxiety when it came to giving speeches and living up to high expectations.  The main message Cuddy stresses towards the end of the video is "Fake it 'till you become it."  She says give presentations over and over again or whatever your hurdle may be, until you realize that it is a part of who you are.  Be bold and just do it is the takeaway I got from this video.  Feeling like you don't belong or you aren't good enough is a common feeling the majority of people feel at some point in their life.  The message that Cuddy is sending out is a powerful one.  I can't tell you the amount of times I've felt that "I'm not good enough for this," "I don't deserve this," or "I can't do this."  After watching this video that day in class I've probably watched it ten times over.  Amy Cuddy and her message of "fake it 'till you become it" has stuck in my head and comes forth in my mind when I'm having doubts or when i'm feeling unsure about an obstacle that i'm facing. 

 I challenge you to watch Amy Cuddy's Ted Talk (here's the link), and to live through this motto.  Even if you don't receive the same message from the video that I did, try the power posing before your next big presentation or interview and see what you get out of it.   Remember, don't "fake it 'till you make it," "fake it 'till you become it."