Boost your confidence for your next public speaking event
Confidence…we all want it, right?
Whether it’s a little sassy swagger when we walk down the street or a stronger backbone when we’re negotiating our salary, we’re all obsessed with finding more confidence in our lives. And I’d be lying if I said that I don’t struggle finding confidence on most days (life is tough, y’all).
But I’ve also learned a priceless lesson over the years. When it comes to confidence, COMPETENCE is really the key ingredient we’re looking for.
Confidence = competence
Struggling feeling confident on the job? Spend less time worrying about it, and more time developing your skill-set. When you focus on building competence in strategic ways, you become a player that knows the game inside and out. When you’re honestly skilled at the task at hand (and have some results to back you up), you can defend your position more effectively (and get rewards, positive attention and more career satisfaction, to boot).
Tackle your fears
When it comes to public speaking, building your competence means understanding some tricks to improve your delivery and presentation. One of the simplest solution is one your Grandma probably repeated to you.
If you want to tap into an instant dose of confidence, stand up straight.
Yup, just this simple act of standing (or sitting) upright can be very powerful, because:
Better posture helps us breathe more easily, project our voice, and make eye contact with our audience
Better posture also helps us switch into “work” mode. Standing (or sitting) upright gives your brain a message that you have a job to do.
Some studies indicate that standing tall can help elevate certain hormones and improve our confidence. Whether that’s true or not, I definitely notice a difference, so I use this simple trick all the time.
Practice, grow, improve
Want to be a confidence communicator? The biggest secret is practice. No one is born ready to deliver soundbites to the TV news or able to share stock secrets at a conference. Invest time rehearsing, improving and developing your skills every chance you get.