Heard of this Mantra before? Umpteen times, eh? Does it work for you? It has worked for me. Many times. It continues to do wonders to me!

As a sixteen year old boy, I used to run away from the scene when the telephone bell rang at home. One of my younger brothers or my parents would answer the call. What they didn’t suffer from is what I did: A sort of phobia, or total lack of confidence to talk to a stranger on the hot line! Four years later I contested for the Joint Secretary position in the engineering college I went to upgrade my education. I went all the way to campaign and socialize. Ten years later I could comfortably address strangers on International forums in various parts of the globe. Today I counsel my students, as a teacher, to believe in their inbuilt natural resource that could take them and me to any heights we aspire. And that inbuilt-natural-God gifted resource that can take us to any heights we aspire is called confidence.

All successful people we know beam with confidence. Not all of them were confident from day one of their encounter with outside-home-territory endeavors. Some of them imbibed in them this gem of a quality from a confidence grooming upbringing. Some of them gained confidence with more acquired skills and knowledge to gradually evolve into a confident self. And, there are some who never dare to and never believe they have in them what it takes to be a confident being.

If there is any hope to build confidence, then the only short cut we can look forward to is to fake it till we make it! Though Fake It till We make it is very often used as a training exercise to build self-confidence, the same mantra may be used for multiple purposes.

I have started to believe that I’m very intelligent, very charming, very confident and as charismatic as any successful person can ever be. When I look at the mirror and successfully talk a word, I have proved to myself that if I can speak one word in front of a mirror, I can also speak one sentence with confidence. If I can communicate in front of a mirror, then I can speak to my intimate friend as well. Now, every time I talk to a stranger I would assume I’m talking to my intimate friend or in front of the mirror. I’ll fake for a while, and gradually the fake mode will build into a habit mode.

One of my dreams for 2009 is to produce my first portrait. By the end of 2009, my aspiration to produce a portrait will no longer remain a dream. I tried to draw straight lines. I tried to draw curved lines. I tried to create and connect dots. And all of these exercises produced accurate results. What I believe now is that any portrait is a combination of dots, lines and curves. To put them together should also be possible if I can produce them independently. Imagination and Creativity are the complimentary essentials. Every human soul is blessed with these qualities. I cannot be an exception. I’ll be a fake artist till I become a true artist!

Fake It Till You Make It as well!