Hi Gorgeous,

Happy Friday! I hope you've had the most fantastic week.

You may have thought to yourself on a number of occasions when you are shaking in your boots waiting to find a small gap in the conversation so you can raise your point… “Why can’t I just be more confident?”. Well, you can learn to become more confident by implementing some simple smalls steps. Here are my 5 tips to becoming more confident:

1. Think of confidence as a journey

Every small step that you take in the right direction will build upon your confidence. The result - watch your success rapidly accelerate.  

Babies are not born with confidence, but their confidence grows as they practice and develop.  As you increase your effort into learning a skill you become better at it. And so the loop continues.

High achievers don’t start off feeling naturally confident, deep down they will most likely feel like a complete fraud until they have developed a proficient set of skills for a new task.  Learn to take growth and development in your stride and envision yourself as a work in progress!

Why bother?  Well, without confidence you will revert to fear, and when you’re fearful you won’t take any action.

2. Change your posture

If you are sitting down check your posture, pay attention to you where you’re positioned.  What is your body language saying to you?  

When you are confident, you make yourself big.  Think of Bolt crossing the winning line, what does he do?  He throws his arms in the air - he’s confident, he’s just won, he makes himself as big as possible.  

Conversely if you make yourself small, try sitting hunched over with arms folded, you will start to feel fearful and you’ll begin to shrink away.

Become very aware of your body language and how you’re positioning your body.  Check in with yourself frequently on this.  Sit tall, proud and be present.

3. Practice being confident

Sounds weird right?  Just try it.  Choose a safe environment and run a little experiment with the people around you (I’d suggest trying this at the supermarket).  

When you’re standing at the cashiers till strike a high power pose.  Think Wonder Woman on a mission. Stand with your feet apart, your hands on your hips, and your chin tilted upward. Have a high energy chat about the weather, your kids… whatever! Check in with how you are feeling now you’ve adopted your power stance.  When you pretend to be powerful, you’re more likely to feel powerful.

When the time comes to go live and put your practice into action use broad gestures.  Encircle your audience with your arms, inviting them into your space. Use positive body language because it will make you feel bigger than you really are. Pretend to feel confident and you’ll become confident.

It takes practice. Prior to your presentation or meeting, find a quiet place to centre yourself and get “in the zone.” Practice your gestures. Stand tall and remind yourself that you’re the expert, and feel your confidence grow. Then you “become it,” the power person that your audience came to hear.

Seriously this stuff really works!  Play around with the power poses, have fun with it and watch you confidence levels increase. People don’t necessarily remember you because of what you say they remember you because of your charisma, and the delivery of your message.

4. Smile!  

“When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.”  Smiling sends a party signal to your brain that tells you that you’re happy.  It might be forced, doesn’t worry it doesn’t matter no-one will know, and it really makes a big difference to how you feel. 

A smile is so important; it tells everyone you are happy, confident and most important competent.  Looking sad or anxious, makes people wonder if you know what you are really doing. 

Regardless of your motivation to smile, its contagious and you will make someones day by smiling.  You’ll note that people just can’t help but smile back at you.  So, smiling is a win-win and a shortcut to succeeding in business.  

5.“Fake it until you become it”

Harvard social psychologist Amy Cuddy says “Fake it until you become it”.  Practice every day where ever and whenever you get the opportunity.  Tiny tweaks over time lead to big difference. “Time is the force that magnifies those simple daily disciplines into massive success” - Jeff Olson.  Don’t take it too seriously, enjoy and just go for it! 

Bring on the weekend!

Much love Sarah xxx

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