Fake it until you... make it?!

I used to be against this saying (fake it until you make it), but as timed passed, I realized that I agree with it. The real problem was how the people who believed in it used it. This shot also helped me change my mind. No one was there, I set the tripod and stood in front of the camera, (that's why i'm too much to the right side) posed few times and took few photos. I faked this laugh, but when I laughed, it didn't feel completely fake, still not as real as those times that you can't stop laughing, but yet, it was somehow real.

So what's wrong with this saying? Many people try to fake things that aren't real, aren't true, things that they don't actually believe in. They want to be successful but they don't understand that driving an expensive car isn't success. Being able to afford a nice car and maintaining it with no hassle is success (financially) even if you don't have one. being respected by other people is success (socially) but if most of the respected people wear expensive clothes, it doesn't mean that expensive clothes brings respect.

Those are just two obvious examples, there are many situations that we are fooled by main stream medias or our own cultures and we follow it blindly and after some time, hopefully not years, we realize it was just a lie to make us buy something or follow a particular system of thoughts, or to distract us from the main problems.

How can we avoid these traps? I think we should first know ourselves and find our real needs. The rest is simple (yet not easy), then fill those needs. I hope it works...