I know the sentiment that you're getting at, but the other side of the coin is ponying up and not being afraid to call yourself such-and-such has a significant effect on taking one's goals seriously.
There's a difference between, "I founded a company" and "I'm a founder". Similarly, getting the girl that I'm dating to start referring to herself as "a writer" rather than saying "I write" helped her to start taking that seriously.
It's like the effect Paul describes of wishing he could get all YC teams on the cover of Newsweek. Once you start telling people, "I am a [writer/founder/artist]" you're setting yourself up for failure, which is a pretty powerful motivator.
There's a difference between, "I founded a company" and "I'm a founder". Similarly, getting the girl that I'm dating to start referring to herself as "a writer" rather than saying "I write" helped her to start taking that seriously.
It's like the effect Paul describes of wishing he could get all YC teams on the cover of Newsweek. Once you start telling people, "I am a [writer/founder/artist]" you're setting yourself up for failure, which is a pretty powerful motivator.