Faking it is pretending you’re done. Practicing it is admitting you’re not and showing up anyway.

Pretending to have arrived requires constant maintenance, because any question can expose the gap and you have set yourself up with no room to learn. Admitting you are mid-process and turning up anyway costs a little status at the start and removes the whole problem of being found out.

Say the honest version when someone asks. Still learning this, second attempt, working on it. Then do the work in front of them. People are far more tolerant of visible practice than of a performance that slips.