Behave confidently

Video: Body Language Expert Explains How to Show Confidence | WIRED

Content

To step
Method 1 of 4: Mimic confident people
Method 2 of 4: Practice acting confident
Method 3 of 4: Build your confidence from within
Method 4 of 4: Take care of yourself
Tips
Warnings

Most people feel confident in some situations, but not in others. Maybe you feel confident in school because you get good grades. But when you are at a party you feel like a fish out of water and you become shy and insecure. Or maybe you feel confident with your classmates, but you lack confidence in a work situation. Regardless of the reason, there may be situations where you feel the need to improve your confidence. Acting confidently is a stage in building your confidence. You can achieve this by making changes in how you think about yourself and how you behave.

To step

Method 1 of 4: Mimic confident people

Find examples of confident people. Think about people you know who are confident. These people can be models so that you can emulate them in confident behavior. You could choose a parent, teacher, or even a celebrity. Observe this person's actions, speech, and body language. Imitate the behavior until it becomes your own.
Smile often and be friendly. By being kind to others and smiling, you appear confident. It makes people think you are a nice and happy person who likes to be around others. Conversely, they will want to be near you.
- Participation in various activities will give you the opportunity to be friendly and show your confidence.
- Introduce yourself to other people by name. This will give them the impression that you respect yourself and that you are worth listening to when you talk.
Talk and listen appropriately. Confident people don't talk, talk or say too much. They talk in moderation and listen to other people, participating in conversations in socially appropriate ways.
- For example, don't talk about yourself constantly. When you constantly talk about your achievements, people start to think that you are looking for approval and acceptance. A confident person doesn't try to find a lot of outside approval. Instead, try asking other people about their results and lives!
- Accept compliments with grace. When people give you positive feedback, thank them and accept the compliment. Confident people know they deserve compliments and respect. Don't put yourself down by saying you're no good at something or acting like your success was just a stroke of luck.
Use confident body language. Confident people do not usually appear anxious or nervous. Small adjustments to your body language can radiate confidence no matter what you feel inside.
- Stand upright with your back and shoulders straight.
- Make eye contact when talking to someone.
- Don't act restless.
- Relax tense muscles.
Give a firm handshake. When you meet a new person, make eye contact and give a firm handshake. This will show that you are confident and interested.
Speak consciously and clearly. Use a clear, confident voice when speaking. When your voice sounds timid or shaky, you don't come across as someone with a lot of confidence. When you rush your words, you radiate that you don't expect people to listen to you.
- Try to omit words like “um” and “uh” from your vocabulary.
Dress confidently and appropriately. People are often quick to judge based on someone's appearance. Sometimes acting confidently can mean dressing as such. If you're wearing clothes that look like you just got out of bed, the average person isn't going to take you seriously. On the other hand, if you look like you are ready to take care of things, people will assume that you are confident and are likely to be more respectful.
- If you make the effort to take your appearance seriously, it will seem like you take your questions seriously too.
Stand up for yourself. Don't let others speak for you as they can easily take advantage of you this way. If you stand up for yourself and show people that you are not going to accept it when people treat you disrespectfully, they will see your confidence and show you the respect you deserve.
- For example, if you're trying to talk and someone interrupts you, say "Sorry, I'd like to finish my sentence."
Don't criticize yourself in front of others. People tend to treat you as well as you treat yourself. If you always put yourself down, then others will treat you that way too. By showing self-respect you can demonstrate that you will not accept less from others.
- For example, don't talk to others about how ugly you think your hair is. Find something about your appearance that you're happy with and focus on that. Or get a new haircut and change a negative self-image to a positive one.
Imagine that you are in a different situation. If you are having trouble appearing confident in one situation, imagine that you are in another situation where you are confident. For example, you have no problems talking to other people at school. But you close when talking at parties. Then imagine at a party that you are just talking to someone in class.
- Challenge the negative thoughts you have at the party by reassuring yourself that you have social skills and that you can talk easily in other situations.
Compliment other people. Confident people don't just see themselves in a positive way; they also recognize positive qualities in other people. If your coworker has done something right, or won a performance award, congratulate that person with a smile. Compliment people on big and small things. This can help you appear confident to other people.
Take a deep breath. Activate your body's calming response by suppressing your fight-or-flight response. Even if you don't feel more confident at the moment, taking a deep breath can calm your body.
- For example, if you are nervous about a job interview, you can activate your body's calming response by taking ten deep breaths, inhaling for four counts, holding your breath for four counts, and then exhaling for four counts. Your body will relax more, which will help make you look more confident towards others.
In addition, never talk about people behind their back. Some people may say that in order to become popular, you have to be mean to others. But the opposite is true. Self-confidence never includes talking badly about others.

Method 2 of 4: Practice acting confident

Communicate assertively. Communicating in an honest, direct way will help your confidence in any situation. Assertive communication helps you ensure that everyone's rights (the speaker and the listener) are protected. It also ensures that everyone joins the conversation with an understanding of collaboration. This also means that everyone's opinions are taken into account when developing a solution.
- For example, if you want to appear confident in a job interview, you can view the interview as an opportunity to see how your work experience and knowledge can contribute to meeting the company's needs. You could say “From what you have told me, I understand that one of the skills you are looking for is to help expand the use of intermodal rail services for existing customers. In my position at ABC Transport, I was able to help three major national customers expand their use of intermodal rail services, generating an extra million euros for the company. I would like to do the same, or more, for XYZ Intermodal ”.
- You will appear confident with your prospective employer because you conveyed your past accomplishments in a way that is factual rather than boastful.In fact, you convey your enthusiasm for joining the team.
Make assertive decisions. When you have to make a decision, don't talk about the options. Be determined and strong, and stick to your choice.
- This could be something small, such as deciding which restaurant to go to for dinner. Don't overthink this decision. Decide which restaurant and enjoy.
- If the decision is a big one, such as accepting a new job, you can take more time to weigh the pros and cons of the outcome of this decision. Just make sure you don't hesitate and hum too much.
Work hard. Focus any nervous energy you have on something productive. Shift your focus to hard work. Confident people are not afraid to look for improvements because what they do does not affect their opinion of themselves. They know that they are always going to do their best in any situation, so they will act confidently even when mistakes happen.
Don't give up easily. Confident people don't give up easily in situations. They prefer to keep going until they have a solution or a way to be successful. If you want to act with confidence, don't dig in when you're faced with a challenge.

Method 3 of 4: Build your confidence from within

Believe in yourself. The best way to act confident is to feel confident. There are several things you can do to help your confidence and self-esteem, which will subsequently help you feel better in various situations. Believing in yourself is the secret to self-confidence. While you can act confidently, you will be much more convincing if you believe in your confidence. Look deep within yourself and recognize your best qualities. You may not believe you have anything special, but you do. This inner confidence will naturally make you look and feel great.
- Set realistic goals and achieve them. Give yourself the confidence to know that you can successfully achieve your goals.
- Love yourself for who you are. Accept yourself for your positives and your negatives. Give yourself room for mistakes and give yourself credit when you are successful.
- Talk to the people who love you. People who love you can help you see the positive in yourself. They love you for specific reasons, and their influence will have a positive effect on your self-esteem.
List your positive contributions. To act confidently, you have to shift your focus to the things that give you confidence. Think about your positive qualities. Consider the things you did well and were successful at (no matter how big or small it was). List positive things to say about yourself. Some examples are:
- I am a great friend.
- I am a hardworking employee.
- I excel in math, science, spelling, grammar, etc.
- I have won prizes in chess matches.
Remember the sweet things people have said to you. Remember situations where people have complimented you. This will help you think positively about yourself, which in turn will help you act confidently.
Discover what makes you feel confident. Once you know what situations make you feel confident, you can move your confident skills to other situations.
- List any situation where you felt confident. Write about any situation that made you feel confident in that situation. For example, “I feel confident when I'm with my friends. Reasons I Feel Confident: I've known them for a long time. I know they don't judge me. They accept me as I am ”.
- Write down any situation where you don't feel so confident. Write about each of these situations that prevented you from feeling confident in that situation. For example, “I don't feel confident at work. Reasons I'm Not Sure: It's a new job and I'm not sure what I'm doing. My boss is a bit picky and she pulled me up from the work I did ”.
Focus on improving yourself. Another skill you can work on is to strive for success in the things you do for work, school, or even your relationship. It's all about focus. Confident people focus on how to improve what they do until they succeed. People with a lack of self-confidence will focus on how they come across, worrying about their imagined shortcomings (which are often untrue) and are more likely to worry about failure than trying to find a way to make it work .
- Reflect on a recent event that you have experienced, such as a public presentation or applying for a job. Count at least three things that went well in that situation. This will help keep negative thoughts at bay.
Silence your inner critic. Negative thoughts cause a lot of misery for many people. Negative thoughts are often based on inner belief that is not true. Thoughts like this could be “I'm not good enough”, “I'm unhappy” or “I screw up every time”.
- Acknowledge these thoughts when they appear. You just learned some bad habits along the way. Changing them is entirely within your ability.
- Challenge negative thoughts. Offer an opposite thought and then test which one is true. For example, if you catch yourself saying "I am unhappy," challenge that thought with anything you have in your life that makes you happy. For example, remind yourself “that I have a roof over my head, food on the table and clothes on my body. I have friends and family who love me. I won € 40 last year with scratch cards ”.
- Recognize that your inner critic is never really correct. Silencing the inner critic can help you act confidently because you feel more confident without someone (you) holding you down all the time.
Believe in your ability to take on challenges. You can use your list positives to increase your belief that you can handle challenges and do your best in any situation.
- If you always think about what you are doing wrong, you will diminish your sense of "self-reliance" (your belief that you can achieve big and small things). In turn, this will diminish your confidence and cause you to act with less confidence. Instead, believe you can overcome challenges.

Method 4 of 4: Take care of yourself

Celebrate your individuality. There may be things about you that want to change. Basically, however, you have to accept yourself before you can start to change. Don't compare yourself to others. Try not to worry about what others may think about you. Learn to follow your own path and do the things you want to do.
Do something that makes you feel strong. Achieve something in your life that you have always wanted to achieve. Start taking classes, join a club, or do something else you know you're good at. Achieving something that makes you feel strong will improve your confidence.
Write in a journal. Every day, write down something that you are proud of, whether it is a nice thing you did for someone or a positive quality that you just discovered. When you need to boost your confidence, flip back through your journal and remind yourself that you are amazing in so many ways.
Stay in close contact with those you love. Spend time with people who love and love you. Having people support you in your life will help you build confidence in a variety of situations. This includes family, friends and partners.
Lead a healthy lifestyle. Take care of your body so that you feel good about yourself. Get plenty of exercise and eat a healthy diet. When you feel good about yourself and your body, you will feel more confident. This will help you act more confidently too.
- Try to be physically active for about 30 minutes every day.

Tips

The only person you have to impress is yourself. Look for a happy life, rather than a life where you feel like you have to live up to everyone's expectations and never be able to do the things you want to do.