Confident Body Language

Not everyone is born confident and the fact is that there are people who may sound and appear confident but are actually not confident. These are the people who know how important expressing and exuding an aura of confidence is.

You may be knowledgeable when it comes to a particular subject but if your audience senses that you are not confident of what you are talking about then chances are, they will not believe you and at the worse, you will end up losing a great opportunity to advance your business. These are some behaviors that show if a person is confident about him or herself.

• Stillness: When a person is nervous, he or she tends to move a lot. You would see a person’s fingers fidgeting, his or her legs restlessly shaking and the like. On the other hand, a confident person does not show much signs of movements. If he or she is standing, he or she will not display much movement. They would not even tap their feet, with feet planted on the ground that is hip-apart. When standing, refrain from standing on one leg since it sometimes connotes that you are ready to leave as soon as you get the opportunity to do so. This gives the impression that you are uncomfortable or not confident of yourself.

• Unhurried: A common sign that people are anxious or not feeling confident is that their movements speed up. Remember; a confident person moves in a calculated and steady pace. A person who moves in a steady pace gives the impression that he or she is not experiencing any signs of anxiety which also translates to confidence. On the other hand, walking stiff is not a sign of confidence but also of anxiety so try to appear and move natural and relaxed. You should also be conscious of the pace of your talk. If you tend to talk fast then people are likely to get the impression that you are nervous and not confident.

• Exposed: People who are lacking confidence tend to physically cover themselves. Confident people do not need to protect their vulnerable body parts and are not afraid of any attacks. They display open body language message clusters as opposed to closed body language message clusters. They also appear natural. You would not see their hands going from one body part to the next or their hands fidgeting every now and then or them twirling or playing with their hair. They are straight-forward and they express their thoughts verbally without sounding nervous and at a steady pace.

As mentioned, not all people were born confident but by making the above gestures a habit, you will eventually develop confidence in yourself.