In this video I'm going to show you three ways to appear highly confident using body
language, following the lead of Tony Robbins, who has spent years talking about the link
between physiology and confidence.
Now while I'm not going to focus solely on just body language in this video, it does
play a significant role in our mental frame of mind, as well as the confidence we portray
to others, so is very much foundational in appearing and feeling confident in any given
scenario.
In addition to this, we'll also explore other methods to help you actually feel confident
in any given situation, helping you centre yourself and perform at your peak.
Towards the end of the video, I will be sharing a 3 step process that applies what's discussed
to help you build confidence for any circumstance.
However, before we go into how to build confidence, it's important to understand why we feel a
lack of confidence to begin with, as with this knowledge, we understand what this process
is designed to help overcome.
Normally, a lack of confidence stems from a fear and lack of belief in our capabilties
in a given situation.
This might be we're afraid of a possible outcome, or don't feel we're able to do what is necessary.
This feeling can be compounded if you have had a bad experience in the past, as mentally
our brain is tuned to prevent a reoccurance of such experiences and thus results in the
sensation of fear to prevent us confronting such situations again.
Now, it's here where your mindset plays a pivotal role, as who you are today is not
the same person you were in the past, and the potential for growth means that even if
you faced failures in the past, then you can always learn to grow to overcome such failures.
So with that said, what can you do to help you appear more confident?
Use Power Poses
The first consideration to make is the role your physiology plays on your mental state.
The fact is people have a natural tendency to disassociate the two, but in reality mind
and body make up the self as a whole, and so are directly linked and influencing one
another on a constant basis.
Anyone who does exercise will understand this principle as exercise causes a dopaminergic
effect in the brain, helping us to feel mentally happier and more positive.
Tony Robbins talks about the role of physiology constantly in controlling your state, saying
that if you want to change your state, you need to get up, stand tall and move about.
This was further backed up by research done by Harvard Business School, who termed this
idea as "power posing".
When striking a power pose, say one similar to the iconic Superman pose, the study found
that testosterone levels in the body increased, with testosterone being the hormone linked
to power and dominance in the body.
While the efficacy of this method is debated, there are many people who attribute good posture
with a sense of confidence.
Even if in the moment you're struggling to feel absolute confidence, the message you
send to others is one of confidence.
Now the other thing Tony Robbins does is to add an extra step of movement to follow the
pose.
This too can have a similar effect, for example if you walk tall maintaining a similar posture
as you did when performing the power pose.
Control Your Breathing
Breathing is an incredibly powerful tool that many of us don't actually use effectively
in our daily lives.
As your physical or mental state changes you'll often find that your breathing patterns change
too.
As has been found in numerous studies, our breathing can help us affect our mental and
physical state, something Tony Robbins incorporates into his daily rituals and his seminars.
In his approach, he uses a kind of variation of Pranayama from Yoga, taking in deep breaths
through his nose, holding the breath and then exhaling again to release the breath, repeating
this process multiple times in his practise, usually around 30 times.
The effect of this is that the slow breathing patterns and deep breaths naturally calm the
mind and help you relax, which in times when you need to feel confident is significant.
However, by counting the breaths you also influence “neuronal oscillations in the
brain”, specifically in the regions related to emotions, as found by a study conducted
in 2018.
So not only will this breathing technique from Tony actually calm you, but it helps
you gain control over the emotions you feel as you breathe, which when feeling fear when
lacking in confidence, will go a huge way in regaining composure and not letting emotions
control your state of mind.
The best part is this will actually show in your body language too, and people are accutely
aware of subtle physical communication, meaning they will pick up on this, even if unconsciously.
Say Affirmations And Visualisation
We've discussed affirmations on the channel before and if you haven't seen what's been
discussed, I will link it in the description down below.
Studies conducted using MRI scans found that with the use of affirmations, it appeared
that certain neurol pathways increased.
To be more specific, the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in positive valuation and
self-related information processing, becomes more active when we say affirmations.
What this essentially means is that as we say affirmations, we effectively increase
our self belief and thus confidence.
However, if you know you have a task to overcome, then it's also worth delving into a process
of visualisation, which will help you mentally see through the task you need to complete.
While at first glance this might seem like daydreaming, it can have incredible effects.
Researchers at Harvard University, compared the brains of people playing a sequence of
notes on a piano with the brains of people imagining playing the notes, ergo going through
the visualisation process.
Interestingly, the region of the brain connected to the finger muscles was found to have changed
to the same degree in both groups of people, regardless of whether they struck the keys
physically or mentally.
You see, the brain doesn't distinguish between physical reality and what you visualise in
such circumstances, meaning that if you visualise the process before going through it, you will
naturally feel more confident as a result, as the brain already believes you've experienced
it.
Again, Tony Robbins applies both affirmations and visualisation as part of his process to
controlling your state, which as seen has a critical role in helping you feel more confident.
Apply The 3 Step Process
So we've gone through how to appear and feel more confident and it's incorporated by Tony
Robbins into his daily rituals, such as his 15 minutes of fulfilment.
Whilst highly effective and something I really recommend doing each morning, I do think it's
useful to try and incorporate this into a process to help you feel and appear more confident
in a few minutes.
So I've come up with a process I use regularly in my life, most notably when under pressure
and need to perform, such as in a professional environment when meeting clients and being
expected to perform the role as an expert in my field.
The steps are as follows:
1.
Stand up, as straight and tall as you can, possibly in a Superman like pose if it helps,
and take deep breaths in and out of your nose for up to 20 breaths, counting each breath.
2.
Once you complete your breathing, say three to five affirmations that acknowledge your
capabilities or ability to complete a given task and after completing the affirmations,
proceed to visualise the task to be completed, not just completing the task in your head,
but doing so as perfectly as you can imagine.
The key here is to integrate yourself into the moment fully as though it's your reality
3.
Finally, walk while maintaining the same confident posture you did in step one and maintaining
a slow, calming breathing pattern
Doing these steps will help you develop confidence quickly in an efficient way, helping you set
your state at a crunch time and follow through with not just appearing confident to others,
but feeling confident in yourself to succeed.
Are you going to give this process a go?
Let me know in the comments section below.
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Thanks for watching.