How to Become More Confident in Yourself (3 Easy Tips!)
Does the idea of doing a Facebook or Instagram LIVE make you break out in cold sweats?
Is a lack of confidence standing in your way to sell your products and services?
In this YouTube video, I talk about how to become more confident in yourself in all areas of your life and business.
Learning the art of being confident on camera takes some practice. The “experts” make it look easy, right? And you may be thinking to yourself, “They just have natural talent.”
But this is a common misconception. Most of them (including me) were terrible when they first started out! We just didn’t see those videos.
Here’s the real truth. We all have had times where we fear what others think. We all fear not being liked or how we’ll look on camera. We all have times when we have a fear of not being successful, we have a fear of not being good enough, or we fear rejection.
But there are ways that you can practice and prepare to become more confident in yourself.
Learn these small, easy steps you can start taking right away. They will teach you how to become more confident, how to build self esteem, and especially, how to be confident in front of the camera.
Pretty soon, you’ll be one of those confident people who is crushing it in business and in life! Apply these techniques to anything you do for more confidence, more clients, and more success.
1--START SMALL
Before you jump on a LIVE workshop or hit record on your camera for your audience, take some small steps first to ensure your success.
Practice in front of the camera, and then play it back just for yourself. Just start carrying your camera or phone around with you, practice doing videos, and get used to seeing yourself on camera. Get comfortable talking to the camera and finding your personality, your vibe, and your style in front of the camera.
From there, you can start sharing your videos with small groups of close friends or family you trust. Then progress to larger groups until you feel really comfortable. Get constructive feedback along the way so that you can find ways to improve.
Then move on to larger groups like a small email list or your social media audiences. Start out with pre-recorded videos. This will boost your confidence while gaining some video savvy along the way.
Only move to doing a LIVE once you’ve mastered some smaller steps and gotten your tech and style down. The LIVE may still feel a little scary, but that’s ok. Turn that small amount of fear or lack of confidence that’s left into excitement and fun.
2--POWER POSING
Sit or stand in power poses. No kidding. When we sit or stand in poses that take up more space, throw our shoulders back, and feel more strength in our body, we actually will physically feel stronger and mentally and emotionally feel stronger as well.
Research shows us that testosterone levels, which are associated with being more assertive, more confident, and feeling stronger in our bodies actually go up and cortisol levels, which are associated with things like fear go down depending on the way that we carry ourselves. If you want to read more about this, you can check out Amy Cuddy's book, “Presence”.
Testosterone exists even in women. And the more we can raise our testosterone levels, the more we feel confident, assertive, and strong. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is present in males and females. And the more cortisol we have racing through our systems, the more we feel scared, anxious, or nervous.
Check out my YouTube video for a demonstration on how to use power poses to help you feel strong and bold.
3--YOUR FEEDBACK SHORT LIST (and I mean short)
Set boundaries around criticism.
There are two types of criticism. There's the criticism that comes with the haters, which really doesn't help you very much at all. And then there's just the type of criticism that we call constructive criticism.
How do you know who to take advice from and which criticism is actually helpful?
Get a very small piece of paper and write down two to three names of people that you feel will give you good, solid, honest feedback. This must be the kind of feedback that comes from the heart and is truly intended to help you.
Take that piece of paper with the three names on it and I want you to fold it up and keep it in your wallet or your handbook or somewhere where it's really accessible. Keep looking at that list. That's your short list of people that you take advice and feedback from.
For everyone else out there in the world, just say, "thank you so much" and move on.
As for the haters, realize right now that you will have a few. It comes with putting ourselves out there and jumping into the “Arena” as Brené Brown often quotes from Teddy Roosevelt.
Every day, we're putting ourselves out there where people can see and hear and read what we have to produce. We're on social media, we're on websites, we're on lives, we're on podcast interviews.
And you always hear that piece of advice: Ignore the haters, the haters are going to come.
But in order for us to ignore the haters and for their feedback and their comments to have no effect on us, we need to take our egos to neutral. This means that we also don't put a lot of investment in the adulation and praise out there as well.
Stay focused, instead, on your audience out there. Remember that you're there to help them. It's not about us, it's about them. They are caring less about how you look, what you say, and how you show up. They’re more interested in whether or not you care about them and how much you can help them solve their problem.
Let me know if you found this post helpful. And if you haven’t already, make sure you check out our FREE resources!
- Follow me on Instagram: @theanniebauer
- Check out my YouTube channel HERE for more tips
- Download the FREE GUIDE, “The Smart Better Life Confidence Formula
I’m cheering you on!
– Annie
