'Southern Charm' Star Craig Conover Reveals How the 'Faking It Until You Make It' Mantra Gave Him the Power to Succeed: 'You Have to Believe in Yourself

Don't call Craig Conover an overnight success!

Over the last few years, the Southern Charm has built a thriving sewing business, wrote a book and continued to live his life out loud on reality television.

Conover chats exclusively with OK! about his "positive" past three years, how he's maintained his success, the mantra he lives by and teaming up with TikTok for their #BookRecs campaign.

While the drama of the hit Bravo show can be juicy, Conover has immense gratitude for where he is currently. "I tell people all the time, I don't think people care about the positive things that are said, but the last three years of my life have been such an incredible chapter," he reveals.

"It helped me evolve into this better version of myself and I've been able to tap into more of my potential," he adds. "It's funny because I was able to change my relationship with alcohol. Every now and then, I'll celebrate and have some good wine or something, but the next day, I'm not operating at 100 percent. I'll miss it [being at 100 percent] because I'm just used to being like that. I told myself — I was like, 'Man, I wouldn't be able to do everything that I'm doing now if my value system was still based around going out.'"

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With his mind clear and his momentum to succeed at an all-time high, Conover thinks saying "yes" to everything has opened new doors for him. "I just started to greenlight everything," he admits.

"Since January, we've been to a different city every weekend, speaking at home shows. It's been really fun," the reality star notes. "That human connection and meeting everyone really helps drive me, but I wouldn't be able to do any of this without a team. I preach that at my speeches. I push everyone to find a partner or a team. Find someone that knows how to do this stuff better."

Even if Conover isn't feeling his best, he has a mantra to help him through it all. "There's an element of faking it until you make it. There's a huge element of that. You have to believe in yourself," he explains. "Even going through a breakup or something like that — but at the end of the day, if you sit around and wait until you're 100 percent ready, then you're going to die standing still."

Conover is now teaming up with TikTok for their #BookRecs campaign to get people off their phones and diving into a good book.

"I don't want to say reading's making a comeback because I don't think it ever went anywhere, but I think it's becoming more fun for people to share what they're reading and to talk about it," he says. "There's a community around it."