63. Trick yourself into confidence

Can you trick yourself into confidence? In this episode I share three practical ways your can use your body to boost your confidence at short notice.

Join My Six Week Voice Makeover here

Transcript

Welcome to That Voice Podcast.

I’m Sally Prosser

Former TV reporter, PR pro and currently on a mission to help you find your voice and speak with confidence.

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.

Trick yourself into confidence.

This is what Episode 63 is all about.

When we’re just not feeling that burning fire of confidence within.

How do we snap into it?

When we’re freaking out while presenting, how do we reign in the panic?

Well I reckon one of the best ways to trick yourself into confidence is by using your BODY.

A change in your physical state can absolutely bring a change in your mental state.

And when it comes to voice and speaking our body is our musical instrument,

We need to set up our body first.

Just like any other musical instrument, the first thing you do is know how to hold it right?

And there’s a bit of an art.

You give a guitar to a non-guitarist and someone who plays can tell that person doesn’t just by the way they hold the instrument.

And that’s why after MINDSET, BODY is our focus for week two of My Six Week Voice Makeover.

How do you set up your posture?

What do you do when you get those shaky legs and sweaty palms and pounding heart and dry mouth and all those things – I go through strategies for all of those.

And also what body language should you use to convey confidence.

All this comes before we even make a sound, so if 2021 is the year you really want to step out and show up and truly get your message heard,

Then My Six Week Voice Makeover is the course for you.

Make sure you’re on the invite list, I’ll link to it in the show notes or you can go to sallyprosser.com.au and follows the links there.

We really can trick ourselves into confidence through what we do with our body.

You may have heard of Amy Cuddy’s Power Poses.

So that’s putting your hands on your hips or stretching them high in the V for Victory stance.

She found that just doing that for a couple of minutes can increase testosterone, decrease cortisol and cause better performance.

It’s also been found the mere act of smiling can make you feel happier and lower your stress.

The old laughter is the best medicine has also rung true.

Laughter has been found to strengthen our immune system, boost our mood and reduce pain.

So the idea that a physical change can cause an emotional and mental change is well supported.

And the three techniques I’ll explain today, are ones I use and absolutely work for me.

Now before you need to present or be interviewed or head into an event you want to arrive with your confidence firing.

And if you’re feeling flat or nervous you want to jump into a new energy zone right.

And here’s where we trick ourselves through the wonderful art of

FREESTYLE DANCE.

If you’re in the membership Members Only you know we start our masterclasses always with a bit of dancing.

And I always dance before any presentation, or just whenever I feel like it.

WHY?

Well it gets the blood pumping and the endorphins – those happy hormones get released.

Especially if you’ve been sitting in front of your computer all day – it irons out those creaks and helps you feel present in your body.

If you’re feeling nervous this is where you can actually visualise, where is that tension in your body, where are the nerves. I picture mine as like little fireflies, and I want to physically move them through my body and release them.

Yes I am waving my arms and jiggling my hips right now, feels so good.

Mix this with your favourite tune and you’re going to come out the other side feeling more confident. This is Me from the Greatest Showman gets me every time. When it hits the bridge the music just ignites me.

I’ll play it for you.

So Good.

Now the second way you can use your body to trick yourself into confidence is through your posture.

So whether your in front of your computer presenting or around a meeting table or at an event – in any scenario if you’re feeling a bit threatened, intimidated one of the first things to drop is our shoulders, and we can hunch over a bit.

Probably us trying to get back into the safety and security of the foetal position.

So one of the ways we can easily trick our body into a more confident stance is to bring the shoulders back.

That will also bring your head up and make you feel taller, it opens your torso so it’s easier to breathe.

Try it now, imagine you’re wearing angel wings, now don’t overstretch that will look a bit militant, you just want them comfortably pulled back.

Don’t you immediately feel more like a queen or a king?

Super easy tip which you can do while you’re speaking and your confidence will spike.

And finally –

I know I spoiled this for you as I mentioned it earlier.

But SMILE.

Smile, approach your speaking with joy and excitement and gratitude.

When do you look at a smiling face and think – they’re not confident.

Normally the face of a not confident person has furrowed eyebrows, tight lips, maybe a grimace.

Smiling will relax you and the people around you.

Even better if it’s a real smile, a smile with the eyes a smile that accentuates our beautiful crows feet.

(I am considering botox actually)

And look if you just don’t feel like smiling, then don’t.

But just be conscious to relax your face and release tension in the jaw. A nice little jaw or temple massage works well – and if you’re out and about, just pop into the loo and do it.

So there you have three ways to use your body to trick yourself into confidence – freestyle dance, pulling the shoulders back and smiling.

If you want to get serious about putting these strategies into practice and learning a whole heap more then you’ll want to get on board My Six Week Voice Makeover.

I cannot wait to welcome you, not long to go now, but you have to be on the invite list so you are first to know when I go live and also first in line for the best deal.

So make sure you’re signed up at the link in the show notes.

Now all that’s left to do is wish you a very happy new year,  if you’re in my Members Only I’ll see you on the first with our masterclass on breathing, and if not I’ll be back with another episode next Monday.

Bring on 2021.

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