5 Ways to come off as confident when nervous

Ever heard of the concept ‘fake it til you make it’. It’s a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy that has over time become a widely proposed way to boost self-esteem. When you feel nervous but want to come off as confident, the key is to learn to ‘fake it til you make it’. Here are 5 ways to do this.

Adjust Your Body Language

Think of it this way: if you act like a winner you feel like a winner. Learn to tweak your posture a bit so you make yourself bigger rather than smaller. Even if you don’t feel confident, position your body to communicate confidence to other people. Positive physiology typically sends positive messages to our brains so next time learn to stand as tall and proud as you can.

Take Note of Your Tone of Voice

Your tone can betray a lack of confidence. To fix this, you can try recording yourself speaking and playback to assess how level and assertive your tone is, then ask yourself what you can do to improve your tone. Understand that the more you can relax and be yourself with your voice, the better and more confident you will come across. Remember to breathe easily and deeply to maintain an open, warm and resonant tone.

Know What to Do With Your Eyes

If it’s comfortable for you to make constant eye contact, do so, if not don’t. But whatever you choose to do just be consistent with it. You tend to come off as nervous and not confident when it seems like you don’t know what to do with your eyes.

Pay Attention to the Way You Think

It’s baffling that people actually choose to think negatively of their own selves. Negative thoughts about yourself impede your confidence, and if you keep it up no matter how much you try to act confidently you will always fail. The key is to successfully coming off as confident, is to question this negative voice and replace it with positive, wise and encouraging thoughts.

Dress Well

Your look goes a long way in helping you successfully come off as confident even when nervous. Not only does dressing smartly make you look confident, research also shows it actually helps you behave more confidently too. Once you can combine dressing smartly with the appropriate body language and carriage, you will be surprised at the results.