Approaching Challenges with Confidence
"We convince by our presence." Walt Whitman
How would you like a simple way to approach the challenges in your life with confidence? Psychologist and author Amy Cuddy reveals how to do this in her book Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges. With tiny tweaks to your body language, behavior, and mindset, you can access your personal power and reach a state of “presence.” In this state, you can comfortably express your true self with confidence and enthusiasm. Your emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and physical and facial expressions are harmonized. With Presence, you focus on the impression you are making on yourself, not on other people. You can authentically express your values through your actions. You are present and feel your personal power.
So, how does embracing our personal power benefit us? Here are six ways:
Protection: Feeling powerful can buffer us against negative emotions.
Connection: Feeling powerful can improve our relationships because we are better able to read and relate to others and are more likely to forgive them.
Liberation: Feeling powerful improves our thinking so we can make better decisions under stressful conditions.
Synchrony: Feeling powerful brings our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors into alignment.
Action: Feeling powerful makes us proactive because we believe we have some control.
Effectiveness: Feeling powerful helps us perform better because we believe we can do it.
Accessing Our Personal Power
Now, the question is: How do we access our personal power and embrace our “presence?” Amy proposes that we can do this with self-nudges to our body language and mindset. This is known as Power Posing. These are simply postures that make you feel more powerful. In these positions, you take up more space and are open. You have “good posture.” The body is expanding, rather than contracting. The “Wonder Woman” or “Superman” pose is probably the most well-known power pose. In your daily routines, you can look for ways to expand the body such as with yoga, dance or at the gym – any opportunity to stretch out.
One way to practice this is to stand like Wonder Woman or Superman in front of the mirror for 2 minutes when you need to feel powerful.
When to Power Pose
Power Posing could be helpful before any of these challenging situations:
An Interview
Difficult Conversations
Auditions
Athletic Events
Presentations
Meeting with Professionals (attorney, doctor, etc.)
Attending Social Gatherings with Unfamiliar Faces
Access your confidence by first moving your body into a stance that tells everyone (including you) that you are confident. Not only can your mind change your body, but your body can change your mind.
"I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing." – William James
Learn more about this in Amy Cuddy’s 2012 Ted Talk, “Your body language may shape who you are.”
When will you Power Pose?