Everyone wants to appear confident. We all usually like to have some confidence building tips when we’re getting ready for an important event.
You might have to give a presentation, go for a job interview, or perhaps have a difficult conversation with someone.
If you’re dreading it and want to find ways to build your self-confidence to get through it, continue reading.
7 Confidence Building Tips
1. Make time to prepare: for interviews and presentations, give yourself plenty of time to prepare for the event, do any research that you need to, prepare your presentation or think through likely interview questions and how you’ll answer them.
2. Practice what you’re going to say: it’s also really important to practice what you’re going to say. For awkward conversations, it’s useful to run through a few scenarios of how the conversation may go, and to think through how you will handle and respond to each one of them, so that you are well prepared. You could make time for doing this by planning time into your diary and keeping that appointment with yourself.
3. Clear your head & remember the good times: take time out to clear your head of any self doubting thoughts. Remind yourself of a time when you’ve done this or something similar in the past. If it went well before, remember what worked well and how you can repeat your success. If it didn’t go so well before, think about what you can do differently this time to get a better result. It’s a good idea to jot down a few notes for yourself so that you remember all those good points you come up with.
4. Plan how you’re going to present yourself: they say that at least 55% of communication is visual, so think about how you’re going to present yourself. It will pay off in terms of how confident you feel on the day to really go into some detail here. Think about what will make you feel confident and plan ahead to make sure you have everything ready.
Plan what you are going to wear, what you will take with you and any personal grooming that you want to have done before the day. Make sure you have it all ready by at least the night before the big day. Is there anything else you need to do in advance? On the day of the meeting you want to have everything ready for you to wear. You’ll also want items ready to take with you.
If you’ve got everything ready before the day of the event, then you can feel confident that you look your best. It will also help to reduce your nervousness.
The High Heel Story
I know a very powerful speaker who won’t go on stage unless she is wearing a certain pair of shoes – they are bright red pumps – high heels. She calls them her power pumps. She says she started wearing them in her early days of presenting when she was speaking to small groups of 20 or so. She said there was something about the way she walked when she wore them – she entered the room as if she owned it. Now she’s speaking to hundreds and commands 5 figures for a keynote. And she still wears a pair of high heeled red pumps.
It may seem obvious, but I know from personal experience that it’s not great to leave everything to the last minute. If you do then it usually means that you end up rushing around to get yourself ready. You might end up not wearing the perfect outfit for the occasion because it really should have gone to the dry cleaners! End result is that you’re not feeling your best and you start thinking negatively and that knocks your confidence levels down. Planning ahead will usually avoid these pitfalls.
5. Allow extra time on the day: on the day, why not build in extra time to allow for travel delays or any other unexpected events which you may encounter? Better to arrive early and have time to settle yourself down than to be rushing around at the last minute, or even worse to arrive late.
6. Allow for the 5 min warning: allow yourself a few minutes just before you take the plunge and give your presentation, walk into the interview or start the awkward conversation. Use this time to concentrate on your breathing, aiming to keep it steady and calm. You can do this by taking deep steady breaths in through your nose, hold the breath for a few seconds and then breathe slowly and calmly out through your mouth – this really does work! It will help to clear your mind, steady your nerves and give you a few minutes to focus.
7. Get help. Talk with someone who can pump up your self confidence just before the talk. I’m not talking about someone who is going to blow smoke up your butt. I’m talking about someone who will help you identify your strengths and manage your fears. Sometimes we forget our strengths and the impact we have on others. Talking to someone who can help you remember this and give you another perspective can do wonders for your confidence.
Keep in mind you are still likely to feel a little nervous on the day. It’s natural for most of us, including those people who always seem to be highly confident.
Give it a try! why not try some of these tips out for yourself?
