Are you shy?
2017/03/06
Are you shy?
We often describe ourselves as either shy or confident and many people believe that being more confident is a more positive personality trait. I am sure that we have all felt the anxiety of entering a new situation, being unsure in our own ability to be able to either fully understand or fully engage in the task. How, then can we transition from shy to confident?
Practicing can certainly help us on our way. If we have an important presentation, we will often practice over and over again, learning by heart what we have to say in the appropriate way. However, this does not always work and in extreme cases of stage fright we can completely forget an entire presentation that has been meticulously learned. It is most definitely an embarrassing situation to be in!
There are many suggestions to help us to overcome this fear. Many people use breathing techniques to calm themselves in these situations. Other people find that creating distractions, such as visually stimulating slide shows, can take the pressure and focus off them. Some people use body language to make them appear more confident, consciously choosing more open postures to allude to a greater self confidence.
A popular phase we use when practicing confidence is “fake it until you make it”. More recently the phrase has been adapted to “fake it until you believe it”.
