We’ve all been in that situation where we had something to say, we’ve planned it out in our head, but we’re tongue-tied when the time comes. For days afterward, we think about how it might have gone, all the witty things we could have said. It’s torture, and a complete waste of time.
In this feature, we aim to help you become more confident as we will help bring out your witty alter-ego who seem to be locked away when you seem to need them the most during interactions.
Without further ado, lets get into it.
1.Believe in yourself:
The key to building confidence and improving one’s self esteem is believing. Believing in oneself boosts confidence, as it aligns with confidence in one’s skills, knowledge, and ability. When you believe in yourself, your confidence shines through communication, making others unaware of one’s nervousness.
2. Breathing:
The breathing technique is a simple and effective way to reduce anxiety and panic. It can be done anywhere, including standing, sitting, or lying on a bed. To practice, make yourself comfortable and loosen any clothing that restricts breathing. Place your arms slightly away from your sides, legs straight, or feet flat on the floor. If sitting, place your arms on the chair arms. Place both feet flat on the ground, hip-width apart. Allow your breath to flow deep into your belly without forcing it. Try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, counting from 1 to 5. Repeat this process for at least 5 minutes.
3. Communication Skill:
Practice and experience significantly impact confidence. For public speaking, practice beforehand to become more comfortable. For interviews or performance reviews, have a friend run through potential questions to prepare. According to research looking into the mirror while practicing your dialogue develops your communication skills and delivery.
4. Go out of your comfort zone:
Pushing beyond one’s comfort zone leads to growth in confidence, self esteem and progress. Embracing new activities makes you very uncomfortable at first, or feel impossible to do but in the long run after consistent tryouts they become ultimately beneficial. If you adapt to trying out new activities, your brain and mind will automatically be programmed to let you go out of your comfort zone to do what you want with confidence.
5. Take cognizance of Your Body Language:
The phrase “Fake it until you make it” contains a lot of truth: presenting yourself confidently enhances confidence in speaking. Practice good posture, eye contact, smile, and pause before speaking.
6. Watch other people and Learn:
Carefully watch and learn a mentor or manager’s communication style, focus on how they hold and command attention. Pay attention to their presentation, questions, and summarization, choice of words, body language and ask for their expertise, as most people are willing to share their knowledge.
7. Always ask questions:
Always ask focused questions from people you look up to, feel or know are ahead of you, ask questions in plenary, from people with more experience in your field of work and from people who are older than you. Asking questions helps clarify understanding, engage audience, and demonstrate listening. This leads to a deeper understanding topics and clarifies next steps.
NOTE: Building one’s confidence is not a day job but it is worth it and while you are at it, Remember to stay humble as most people seem to confuse confidence with arrogance.
