42. My top five confidence hacks

Do you want to feel more confident? Silly question, we all do! In the final episode of Season Two I share five practical things I do - and you can too - to jump start your confidence!

Transcript

Woohoo! It's the season two finale and you are in for a treat. I've learned a thing or two about confidence in my time. And today I'm sharing with you my top five confidence hacks.

I'm Sally Prosser. You're listening to That Voice Podcast, no matter who you are or what you do, your voice matters. So unless you've sworn a lifetime vow of silence, this is the podcast for you.

Hello. Hello, welcome. Thanks for tuning into episode 42 of That Voice Podcast. The last episode for season two, and we're coming full circle. I started this season talking a bit about myself and how to win the confidence game. If you haven't listened to head back to episode 22, great episode, I thought I'd finished on confidence because how to be more confident in speaking or be more confident in general is probably the most common question I get asked. That and how to stop saying UM and AH - I have a podcast on that too. So confidence, man, it's tricky. Isn't it. As I say, in episode 22, I believe confidence is a feeling, not a fixture, and it's a daily challenge to generate that feeling of confidence. Now the word hacks suggests an easy fix, and I'm not saying these are, but for me, these are practical things I do to try to keep my confidence up because Hey, as you'll hear in episode 22, I know what it feels like to feel like it's being squashed under a shoe.

So let's get stuck into these five confidence hacks and number one, I'm agreeing with popular opinion here. Number one is exercise. I truly believe if you feel healthier, you'll feel more confident. And if you feel good in yourself and your body, and you're getting those endorphins firing when you're exercising, you're going to feel better about yourself. So last year I had a fair few months of lots of indulgence. There was lots of drinking and lots of eating. And I remember getting ready for a birthday party in December. And I just could not fit into any of the clothes that I would normally wear out. And I remember looking in the mirror and just hating myself. I just felt so low. And I was like, who is this big, lazy slob looking at me? I just couldn't bear it. And so when I got back from my holiday to New Zealand over new year's, I went on Lite n Easy - didn't drink, which was very hard for me trained every day.

And man, I felt great. Like I did miss the alcohol and I'm back on the wine and cheese. Don't worry about that. But I really do feel much better when I'm in a good routine of going to the gym and exercising. I enjoy going to Inspire Cycle. That's my exercise of choice, but whatever it is, it definitely affects your feeling of confidence. So if you're feeling really low, ask yourself, when's the last time you've gone for a walk or a run or gone to the gym or whatever it is you like to do.

Now, number two, record pep talks to your phone. Right now I do this and if I ever lost my phone and these saw the light of day, it would be, Oh my gosh, I would die. But what I've done is at times of full confidence, I've thrown my phone onto record just the voice memo app and given myself a pep talk. Like it's actually me saying, "hi, Sal, you gorgeous, sexy, amazing thing. You" It's so funny to say, but I play that when I'm feeling down. There is nothing quite like hearing your voice, giving yourself a pep talk.

So try that. I record so many things to my phone. I also record all the speeches I need to learn. I record my goals and I really believe in listening to those recordings because it becomes like the lyrics to a song. You know, it gets stuck in your head. So that's number two, record yourself giving yourself pep talks.

Number three is to take a shower. Honestly. How good does it feel? Getting out of the shower, maybe blow drying your hair, putting on a nice shirt, putting on some makeup maybe. It can definitely improve your mood and make you feel more confident. And even if you don't feel like getting all dressed up, even just having a shower and then putting on some nice fresh pajamas or a nice dressing gown and cozying up on the couch, I think makes you feel better. And you can go one step further and treat yourself to a nice face mask or a nice long bath. But that is definitely something practical you can do. If you're feeling very low in confidence.

Now, number four is to do something you didn't think you could do. So for me, I've always thought I was a terrible dancer. Like when I was in the school productions, I had to be taken aside at the end to be taught the basic moves in the chorus. Cause I was just so bad. Just couldn't pick it up totally uncoordinated. And so I've just told myself over the years, not a dancer, I can't dance. And I thought about this and I thought, that's crazy Sal, because this is what people say to you all the time about speaking. I'm not a speaker. I can't do it. And so I was like, I'm going to give this a go. And I gave a little TikTok dance, a try, like it's pretty bad. And I had to take out all the complicated moves, but it's a start. And after I posted that, I did feel confident. I also tried a rap recently, which you might've seen and that made me feel good. I've been out to the golf range and randomly had a swing of a golf club, which I just have never done before. And it was quite amazing how good I was. Actually, I may have been a golfer in a past life that was a bit freaky, but doing something that you don't normally do or don't think you can do is a great way to build your confidence.

Okay. So number one, exercise, number two, record pep talks to your phone. Number three, have a shower, number four, do something you didn't think you could do. And number five is call someone who boosts your confidence, call someone who boosts your confidence and be honest, say you're feeling a bit flat, feeling a bit down. I know when my sister or my friends call me and they say that things have been just a little bit shit. I can just go on a nice long stream of compliments telling them how amazing they are and I'm not lying. It's definitely the truth. Of course, it's the truth. And usually they say, 'Oh, Sally, I feel better after speaking to you' and actually, you might've worked with me and I hope you feel this way with everybody I work with. My goal is that you feel more confident at the end of our session than you did when you walked in. And so I really try to build confidence in others. And I also reach out to people in my life who build my confidence when I'm feeling down.

If you're thinking right now, 'wow, Sal, I do not know who I would call.' Then. Oh, you might need to look at the people in your life. You know, because if you're surrounding yourself with a whole bunch of people who make you feel less confident, it's going to be really hard for you to build your confidence. Isn't it. You want to surround yourself with people who lift you up, not drag you down. Think of it like helium balloons and ankle weights. If you've got as many helium balloons in your life, people that lift you up as ankle weights as drag you down, then you're not going to move anywhere. If you've got more ankle weights, you're going to be getting dragged down. And ain't nobody got time for that. If that's the case, just cut them off. I know that's easier said than done, but it's definitely worth it. You want to be surrounding yourself with people who lift you up. It's very hard to do confidence work in an environment where people aren't building you up.

So there you have it my top five confidence hacks, very practical. Number one, exercise. Number two, record yourself, giving yourself a pep talk on your phone and then play it back. Number three, have a shower. Number four, have a go at something you didn't think you could do. And then number five call someone who boosts your confidence.

Thank you so, so, so much for joining me for another season of That Voice Podcast, I'm having a month off the podcast, but I'll be back on Monday, August three.

Now something I'm adding for next season is a weekly email about the podcast. So the email will cover the key points of the episode and links to listen. And I'd really love for you to sign up because it's a great way to get a taste of the episode before you listen. And of course it's a good reminder of when episodes drop. So what I would love you to do is head to www.thatvoicepodcast.com, thatvoicepodcast.com and at the top, you'll see a link and you just leave your email there. And then that's all you have to do.

I make this podcast because I really believe that everyone deserves to have confidence in their voice and everyone can learn the skills to get there. If you've picked up some good tips from this podcast, I would love you to write me a little review on Apple Podcasts. And if you screenshot it and DM me on Instagram, then I would love to give you a shout out on my stories. Okay. So how about I give you a news sign off? Are you ready? Sally Prosser for That Voice Podcast season two see you in August.

Thanks for listening to That Voice Podcast, all episodes and full transcripts are at www.thatvoicepodcast.com.