The secret to instant confidence

Want to feel INSTANTLY more confident in most situations? Smile and show your teeth.

From my previous post, you'll know that how you hold your body affects how you feel.

Smiling has has its roots in the primal assertion of dominance in the Animal Kingdom. If I'm showing you my teeth, you need to be worried because I might be about to eat you. But it has now evolved in humans, to be a behaviour that makes people feel relaxed and welcome, amongst other things.

But the physiology remains the same. If you smile you automatically feel more confident because that's how our bodies are wired. Smiling gets your body ready to be dominant.

And that's the thing that makes us feel confident.

I've taught this to all sorts of people, from software engineers who find it difficult to stand in front of a room of stakeholders, to people who are afraid of roller-coasters or turbulence on a transatlantic flight. If you smile - as broadly as as you can - it will significantly change the experience for you.

And as well as feeling more confident you'll make people feel safe and welcome to approach you.

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The Plant and the Pot - a Metaphor for moving on