While you're going through this process of trying to find the

Hear the words of Jean Chatzky, spoken with both wisdom and practicality: “While you’re going through this process of trying to find the satisfaction in your work, pretend you feel satisfied. Tell yourself you had a good day. Walk through the corridors with a smile rather than a scowl. Your positive energy will radiate. If you act like you’re having fun, you’ll find you are having fun.” At first, this may sound like a trick of the mind, a small performance to deceive oneself. But in truth, it is one of the oldest lessons of the human spirit—that the outer posture of the body can shape the inner condition of the soul, and that action, even before feeling, can lead us into joy.

The ancients knew this well. The Stoic philosophers taught that to become virtuous, one must practice the ways of virtue even before one fully feels them. To act with courage, even when afraid, is the first step to becoming courageous. To act with calmness, even when troubled, is the path toward peace. In the same way, Chatzky’s words remind us: if you wish to find satisfaction, begin by acting as though you already hold it. The mind follows the body, and the heart follows the habit.

Consider the story of Winston Churchill during the dark days of the Blitz. When his nation was battered by bombs, he walked through the rubble with confidence, lit his cigar, and smiled at the people. Inside, he surely carried immense fear and burden, but his outward smile became a shield and an inspiration. His posture of courage ignited courage in others. By acting as though victory were certain, he helped make it so. Here we see Chatzky’s wisdom embodied: to act is to begin to create the reality you long for.

The meaning of her words goes deeper still. To scowl, to walk with heaviness, to complain endlessly, is to feed despair. But to lift your head, to smile, to affirm that the day was good, is to change the atmosphere not only around you, but within you. Positive energy radiates outward, and others feel it; but it also returns inward, reshaping your spirit. Thus, the act of pretending becomes less pretense and more transformation. What begins as discipline becomes truth.

History gives us further proof in the life of Viktor Frankl, the psychologist and survivor of the concentration camps. Surrounded by unimaginable suffering, he wrote that those who chose to hold on to hope, to act with dignity, to smile even faintly, found meaning that allowed them to endure. They did not wait for joy to come—they created it by their will. Frankl’s testimony reveals the same principle: act as though life holds meaning, and you will find that it does.

The lesson for us is plain: do not wait passively for satisfaction to arrive. Do not say, “When my work is perfect, when my life is easier, then I will smile.” No—smile now, even in imperfection. Act with joy, and joy will come. The soul is shaped by habit; what you rehearse each day becomes who you are. To practice fun, to practice gratitude, to practice satisfaction, even when you do not feel them, is to carve them into your very being.

Practically, this means beginning each day with intentional posture. Walk into your work with your shoulders lifted, your face ready to smile. At day’s end, tell yourself aloud, “It was a good day,” even if challenges arose. Greet others warmly, even if you feel weary. In these small acts of chosen positivity, you train your heart to follow your actions, until one day you find that what was once a performance has become reality.

Thus, let Chatzky’s words be remembered as ancient counsel in modern tongue: “Act like you’re having fun, and soon you will find you are.” For joy is not always a gift waiting outside us—it is often a fire we must kindle with our own hands. Pretend not to deceive, but to create; act not to mask sorrow, but to transform it. In doing so, you will not only reshape your own spirit but light the corridors of life with a radiance that touches every soul you meet.