After a few recent experiences where I had come across people who were putting this idea into use and were telling me "how many people did this" to feel more successful or in the same level as their better-off peers, I was actually curious and started paying more attention to this.
A few weeks ago we decided to watch a documentary about the lives of two ordinary American families - one black, one white - for over twenty years, showing their struggles to avoid sliding into poverty.
The film is called "Two American Families" and can be watched here. I highly recommend it.
What then triggered this post, was actually one of the main characters of the documentary saying this exact same phrase while purchasing clothes at a thrift shop.
Of course the actual meaning of the phrase is what Napoleon Hill explained as: "Whatever you can conceive and believe...You can achieve".
My view goes more on a "showcasing what we have" level.
What is it with us people that we feel the need to "fake it" to feel that we've kinda made it (but are actually not even close to that what we're aiming for).
Here's an example: a woman arrived to a business meeting proudly carrying a famous handbag known for being a symbol of wealth. THE BAG, no need to even name it.
Curious (almost biting my fingernails), I had to say something about it. Her having that handbag wasn't impossible, but something was just off.
Since I don't have a close relationship to her I decided to compliment her. Both she and a colleague that was with us started laughing and explained to me the odyssey she went through to get that bag. Story made short: it was a fake bag.
And according to them, especially in this part of the world, you wouldn't believe how many people buy fake goods.
Wow!! Suddenly the great feeling of thinking I was living in a country surrounded by people wearing designer goods vanished. I couldn't get this question out of my head: "why do people do this?". I know social pressure is not easy to handle, but it's amazing how it encourages people to buy or even do things that shouldn't be OK. And yet, it seems they've become accepted.
I know this sounds very shallow by comparing it only to designer goods, especially when there are much worse actions derived from this idea. But I can't get it out of my head and it somehow made me think more critically about this behavior.
One thing are designer items reproduced by retailers that for someone who follows designers' collections and it items are extremely easy to spot, but something else are replicas that over the years are more and more difficult to identify because of how good they've become.
Something that I stand for and will repeat over and over again: if you can't buy it, then don't fake it. Buy something that is in your range or wait until you saved enough money to buy the original (even if it's used). Believe me, there's no better feeling than knowing you finally got it, instead of having to fake it in front of everyone.
