There are days where you don’t feel like yourself, and that’s alright. You are not alone in this struggle because confidence is difficult to achieve. But did you know you can look confident while working your way to feeling confident? Here are the five effortless ways to look confident.
1. Fix Your Posture
One of the first signs that will look like you are confident is through your posture. Having poor posture does not make you look confident. Instead of having a slumped position, stand up, keep your spine straight, push both shoulders back, and hold your head high.
Aside from making you look confident, maintaining good posture also brings health benefits. Some of these include better breathing and back support.
Improving your posture may take a while to achieve, but small steps translate to bigger, more long-term results. Being mindful about your posture is one of the first things to note. Whether it’s just doing mundane tasks during the day, always be mindful of your body position.
The next thing you can do is do exercises that help improve your posture. Yoga is one of the most popular exercises for improving posture. Even doing just 10-20 minutes of stretching every day will make a big difference. If you can’t get into the habit of doing a full-length session, try doing stretches while in bed.
2. Make Eye Contact
Eye contact with people means that you are paying attention to them, and it is a fool-proof technique to look like you’re confident.
A simple way to practice this tip is to look at their eyes and alternate between them if you are talking to several people. Another technique is to practice the 80/20 rule, where you look at a person’s eyes 80% of the time, then let your eyes wander around and focus on something else 20%.
Not only making eye contact can exude confidence, but it also makes you look friendly and empathic.
Eye contact also helps in communicating successfully. Oftentimes, things can be misheard, or misunderstood, and conveyance of tone can be taken the wrong way. Establishing good eye contact not only helps ease these burdens but also improves the way you communicate with people. It’s a good skill to have especially in the long run, as we expand our horizons and meet different people.
Part of why eye contact makes one confident is that you become more tuned to the person you are talking to. You become more aware of that person’s own being that it translates to your own self-consciousness. This helps in developing confidence, as you try to balance out yourself with the personality of the other person.
3. Wear Clothes You Are Comfortable With
When you are not comfortable in the clothes you are in, you won’t feel confident. Why wear high heels if you can’t walk properly? If wearing hats can boost your confidence, then wear a fedora or pork pie hat!
You also need to know your body and flaunt the body part that makes you feel confident. For instance, you need to know your face shape if you want to wear a hat. According to Dapperfam, your face shape is crucial when you shop for your next hat.
Choosing clothes that best suit you can be a challenge, so you have to be aware of your body type. It is wise to consider which body part defines you the best, and find clothes that accentuate said body part.
If that is still difficult for you to do, you can always start by looking at other people’s styles. There is nothing wrong with checking out what makes people look good, in hopes that it makes you look good too. Get some ideas from your favorite social media sites such as Pinterest or Instagram!
You also have to factor in comfort vs. attractiveness. Some clothes just look uncomfortable but they look really good. So if you could take the discomfort for a little bit, go for it, but you should look for better alternatives.
4. Speak Slowly and Clearly
Talking too fast makes it appear that you are nervous and lack confidence. You may also end up stuttering and saying nonsensical words or slipping up.
You must be conscious of what you say by speaking slowly and clearly. This way, you would be able to articulate yourself better. Take your time with the words you’re saying, and you may come up with better word choices. You must also speak in a loud voice so that people can hear you.
Practice your articulation in front of a mirror or in front of your friend or family member, and ask for their honest opinion about it.
If you don’t have something to talk about, try learning something new and try to summarize it as best as you can. This helps you build more confidence by expanding your knowledge base, and helps initiate conversation.
With that being said, you have to prepare whenever you plan to talk to someone. Preparation can make a big difference when it comes to sound confident. A well-thought-out conversation is better than going in blind, and it has an impact on how people view you.
5. Never Fidget
Understandably, you will fidget when you’re practicing to be confident. However, this may not be appropriate when showing yourself to people. A good tip is to try to stand still and move only appropriately and deliberately.
Other than that, it helps if you know whether you have conditions related to inattention. The more you know about this, the better you can address it. Otherwise, you can always start by doing mindfulness exercises to help ease your body up. While fidgeting is not an illness in itself, it can affect the way you modulate yourself in front of people. Try to contain this, but don’t feel bad if you couldn’t.
Practicing Confidence Takes Time
Celebrities and other TV personalities are confident in presenting themselves in public, but it took them a long time to master the art of looking confident. Practice makes perfect, so try to do these five ways to boost your confidence a little more each day.
And while you could go and look for tips on how to be confident, confidence is always a state of mind. How you view yourself will always be the number one confidence booster.