ATAR Notes: Forum

General Discussion => General Discussion Boards => Topic started by: JR_StudyEd on March 20, 2019, 05:49:59 pm

Title: The effectiveness of 'faking it till you make it'
Post by: JR_StudyEd on March 20, 2019, 05:49:59 pm
This had its idea in a post in another board. Also, I have absolutely NO CLUE where this thread should go.
Not only in formal education, but in life, does pretending to like or pretending to want to do something that you actually don't like or want to do help you to at least tolerate it? And when shouldn't you do it?

For example, (this is just an example, not something that's actually happened to me) say you are forced to interact with a group of people you know you will loathe. One word out of their mouth and you know it'll be a long couple of hours. Do you pretend that their jokes are witty/funny? You obviously don't want to hurt their feelings. Honestly, probably not the clearest metaphorical representation of what I'm really trying to get at, but bear with me (I guess).

Right now, I loathe writing essays for English. Probably not the best time to say that, seeing as I am in Year 12, and I have a bloody English SAC tomorrow :(.hint hint this is where the idea of this thread came from I have to do it, though, and just complaining of its utter uselessness to me just doesn't work anymore. I obviously am wary of the teacher's feelings, and know full well of their dedication towards teaching English, hence why I don't really want to be telling them things like, Oh, take your essays and burn them for eternity! (Which, if I wasn't, I would have no problem shouting this from the rooftops.).

So, based on the advice I was given on the relevant thread, I decided to actually fake my opinion on essays, saying or thinking things like, yeah! I'm gonna write some essays today! and essays are awesome! It didn't quite spur me yet, though.

Final question, will this work for other subjects too when they inevitably get dry and mundane?
Title: Re: The effectiveness of 'faking it till you make it'
Post by: K888 on March 20, 2019, 06:54:49 pm
English is often a drag for most people at least once during year 12!
Slightly tangential story but comes back to my main point - I found in when writing essays, if I didn't really have an opinion about any of the topics I just looked at what would objectively make a strong argument for the topic. Didn't really matter what I thought because I was mostly indifferent, but if I had good quotes to take from a book and quality analysis, it made writing an essay more bearable because I was thinking about how I could improve myself and get the best marks. I didn't have to pretend to love the content of the subject (because I definitely didn't!), I focused less on what I thought specifically regarding a certain topic, and more on "how can I construct the best argument with what I know?".

If it's any consolation, I found that whilst perhaps some of the stuff you do isn't directly transferrable to what you do after year 12, the principles are. Like, I'm never gonna study any of the books I did again, but I have to write essays for uni that flow well and even if the structure I have to use at uni is different, I'm still using similar skills. Language analysis also trained my brain to be a bit more critical of what I read instead of just accepting it. That's been super helpful in terms of judging whether scientific papers are presenting trustworthy evidence!

It's super easy for me to say being a few years out of HS, but stick with it - you can do it :)


Re: your question about faking it till you make it in other subjects - I don't think you have to pretend to love every subject you do. You won't always love everything you do in life, so it's important to learn self-discipline in doing tasks that you really couldn't care less about doing but still have to do. You've just gotta find different ways to get your satisfaction - so if it's not from the task itself and the content of it, maybe make it from the sense of accomplishment you get when you finish it and can now do something you actually want to do.

Re: your example of having to talk to a group of people you don't like - you can easily talk to people you don't like and still be polite. You don't have to like them to talk to them, and there'll be heaps of times when you do this in life (eg: in jobs, you'll often have to cooperate with people you don't really see eye to eye with). You don't have to be friends with everyone, you just have to be able to be civil and work with them.

I hope this has made a bit of sense and sorry if there's any unsolicited advice in here ;)
Title: Re: The effectiveness of 'faking it till you make it'
Post by: Ionic Doc on March 20, 2019, 06:55:39 pm
Final question, will this work for other subjects too when they inevitably get dry and mundane?

ahh its subjective to the individual ...may work or may not
constant repetition and a physical and visible goal may help!
also try to expose yourself to things related to the course/field your interested in... that will surely  help  ;D

if not
good luck...VCE is not the end  :-*
Title: Re: The effectiveness of 'faking it till you make it'
Post by: SarahEve on July 26, 2019, 09:05:24 pm
Hi, in relation to 'faking it till you make it' with your studies, I'm not sure, however, in my personal life, it's proved to be a really good strategy for me. I've been through a lot recently, and it was really affecting my relationship with my friends. When I finally chose to make a really hard, conscious effort to get out of my 'rut', I guess, it really did improve my situation. But I think 'faking it till you make it' is more about your confidence rather than motivation. For some people, mantras work but I personally don't really believe in them. If you tell yourself in the mirror 'I am happy' when you're not that's not magically going to change and it'll just make you frustrated. I haven't started VCE yet so I can't say much, I'm just going off personal experience, but my cousin who is in year 12, smashes out her study by having a strict study/break routine. Again, can't attest to this idea but I hope this helped :)