There’s no denying it - it’s been a bizarre year! And one of the most disconcerting aspects has to be the imposed isolation, shrinking our world down to government-stipulated bubbles. For 12 months, we’ve been told to “keep apart”, “socially distance” and “stay at home”. As innately social creatures, this has felt wholly unnatural. But as lockdown eases and things begin to open up, there’s no denying that amid the enthusiasm to be ‘let out’, this new freedom is tinged with anxiety. Even the most sociable of us are out of practice. We haven’t been in “normal” social situations for months, and many of us haven’t been in a room with our colleagues for over a year.
If your confidence in these situations was low before, chances are it hasn’t got any better, and even the most confident among us would be forgiven for feeling the pressure. So we are offering up three powerful tools to thrust you back into a space of confidence, whatever the weather.
Sometimes when we're nervous we rush what we're saying, trying to get to the point more quickly and often going up at the end of our sentences. Remember, what goes up must come down. If your idea has weight, then it needs to come down at the end. The end is the bit where you hand the idea over to the person you are speaking to. Think about each idea like a jewel. Because it is a jewel it has intrinsic value - and therefore you have to treat it as such.
Your body language is crucial to how you are perceived, but not just this, what you do on the outside, has a massive impact on how you feel inside. We think of this as working from the outside in. For a moment, hunch your shoulders in, point your chin and gaze down, and make yourself as small as you can. Now stop - how do you feel in that space? Ready to shine? I highly doubt it.
Now try this. Unfold your body, stroke your shoulders back, imagine a string pulling you upward from the crown of your head like a suddenly alert puppet. Let your arms, legs and body take up space. Take a deep in breath and let out a long exhale from this open expansive position. And notice how you feel. Are you ready to shine this time? Quite possibly.
Remember this when you’re needing that confidence boost. Set your body on the right track and soon you will feel something too.
More than ever before, we want to connect with people. We crave honesty, we crave connection, we crave, from behind our zooms or laptop, “real”. So whether it's virtual or real life, be prepared to release a bit of you. Share some details that are unique to your experience, the richness of your emotions, something you noticed, the details that you think are drab are often the bit that makes your communication full of flavour.
Some people appear to be born confident, like they’ve got an innate superpower that others aren’t privy to. But this simply isn’t true. It’s not an innate, fixed characteristic that we can’t change. We can acquire and improve confidence over time and all have a say how we feel and how we are perceived by the outside world.
If you need an extra boost, as many people do right now, our new eBook, which you can download for free at the bottom of this page, walks you through how to sound, look and feel confident, leaving you with precious, confidence-boosting gems that you can start using today.
We're so excited for you to start this journey as improving our communication skills can have a huge impact on all areas of our lives.
If you're interested in hearing more about how London Speech Workshop can support your path to greater confidence, why not Book a FREE Discovery Call with one of our team?