Welcome to the final week of Month 6 in our “Success in 12 Months” blog series! The topic for this month has been the idea of “acting as if.”

Earlier in the month I defined “acting as if” as faking it. Or, more appropriately, for this series: Faking it until you make it.

This month I’ve asked you to look within yourself and at others you admire to examine the traits you would most like to assume.

A Quick Recap…

As we recap the previous weeks, the first week’s exercise was all about identifying some weaknesses you have. I asked you to truly look within yourself and find negative personality traits and/or weaknesses that you think you have.

You were to come up with 5.

During the second week, for each weakness you came up with, you were to think of someone you know that doesn’t have that weakness. You could think about people in your life, celebrities, business people, or anyone else.

For each weakness on your list, you were to list someone who embodies the opposite. So, if you had a list of 5 weaknesses, you would have 5 names of people who embody the opposite.

Last week, you were to write down why the people you listed last week don’t share your weaknesses, using these questions as prompts:

• How do they act differently?
• What do they do that makes them overcome or avoid those weaknesses?
• What traits do they have that you are missing?
• What is their pure motivation?

And you were to document your thoughts in your success journal.

This Week’s Exercise: Start “Acting As If”

Once again we’ve saved the final week of the month for you to “show and prove.”

Now that you have the above lists, identify 3 different ways you can start “acting as if.”

Try it for the week. If you’re shy, and you identified someone who isn’t shy, and how they aren’t shy…just act that way for a week! See what happens. You might be surprised.

For instance, I shared in another post about one of my role models, the Martian Manhunter. Initially focusing on his superpowers, I found I had more in common with his “backstory.” Some of the traits I could identify as a result of his story would be:

• adventurous (leaving his native Mars to live on Earth)
• being a problem-solver (his work as a detective)
• volunteering to serve the greater good (as a member of the Justice League)

If I were to “act as if” with each of those, I could:

• consider ways to meet people I don’t know, being adventurous and going outside my familiar circles
• “investigate” new ways to figure out a problem or solve a mystery in my life
• explore opportunities to volunteer my time and services in my local community

And now it’s your turn: Choose 1-3 of the actions or traits from the above list…and act that way this week!

That’s all our exercises for this month of “acting as if.” Next week, we’ll be starting a new month and topic, and doing exercises that go along with that topic.

How are you doing? Are you making progress on the goal you chose for the program? What challenges are you experiencing? As always, I’m here for you! You can share your thoughts, concerns, and insights by leaving a comment below or by sending me an e-mail–let me know what’s going on!

Your support as you move toward success,

James