When you’re striving for a goal or when you’re floundering, well meaning people are apt to advise you to “act as if.” This phrase, while true in its essence, can often feel more confusing than helpful.

“Act as if what?” You want to say.

“I’m supposed to pretend now?”

“I’m supposed to be fake?”

“Huh?”

A more helpful suggestion might be: figure out what kind of person you want to be. Then act like that kind of person would.

Doing so means you step just a centimeter outside of yourself, in order to choose with utmost intentionality how to react, behave, or proceed.

It means asking yourself questions like:

“How would a keen businessperson respond to this email?”

“What would a person of grace and compassion say to her ailing friend?”

“How would a person who Lives Simply handle that pile of clothes on the floor?”

In the end, it will still be you, through and through, since even the individuals or types of people whom you’re modeling your behavior after are merely your perceptions of them.

Whoever you want to be, whatever kind of person, choose purposefully, and realize that every word you speak, every email you send, every action you take is either you moving you closer to that self or taking you further away.