What is Body Language? It’s the cues and the signs you communicate with your body, without saying a thing. This includes facial expressions, hand gestures, head placement, eye contact, and tone of voice. At first glance, it may seem unimportant and irrelevant to think about your body language. After all, people mostly focus on what you’re saying, not doing. However, the right body language can help you come across as confident and prepared as opposed to shy, awkward, or anxious during any important speech.
While you can communicate a lot through your body language, it’s important to keep in mind that you have to feel confident to project confidence. However, it’s very common for someone to feel a certain way and communicate something completely different. Today, we’re going to talk about different tips and tricks to help you effectively communicate and project confidence through your body language.
Maintain Good Eye Contact
Imagine this: You just got back from an awesome trip to the beach and you want to tell your friend all about it. You are super enthusiastic as you talk about the warm weather, going swimming in the ocean, and building sand castles with your brother/sister. But, your friend looks everywhere but into your eyes. She constantly glances at the door, at her phone, at her fingernails, and at her feet. How do you feel? You probably feel hurt because your friend is giving the impression that she is disinterested and not fully engaged in the conversation. To avoid giving that feeling to anyone else, it’s important that you maintain good eye contact with a person by holding their gaze a couple of seconds at a time (don’t stare them down!)
Maintaining good eye contact also:
Helps you in building bonds with others
Shows honesty
Earns respect
Assists in self-awareness
Maintaining good eye contact is crucial for good communication and gives signals that indicate you are confident in what you are saying/doing.
Have A Relaxed Posture
Body posture is extremely important but often overlooked. If you are slumped over, your back is hunched, and your arms are crossed, it can give the wrong impression that you are bored, lazy, or not listening. Instead, it’s important that you:
Place your hands comfortably at your sides. Don’t fidget, cross your arms, or place them on your hips. Even better is to open your arms with your palms facing toward the listener, giving a more welcoming, open impression
Keep your shoulders back, but not stiff.
Sit/stand up straight. Don’t slouch or hunch your back.
Keep your chin up.
Don’t cross ot twist your legs.
Following these tips can not only help you project confidence, but can help your project friendliness, willingness, interest, and openness.
Focus on Nonverbal Cues Through Your Voice
When you use your voice, you are verbally communicating. However, you can give a lot of nonverbal signals through your voice that can convey certain emotions. If you want to project confidence with your voice, you should:
Keep a regular tone. Don’t unnecessarily raise or lower the pitch of your voice because this can indicate fear or anxiety.
Speak at a normal pace. If you speak too quickly, you can convey feelings of nervousness and can make the other person feel lost. Speaking too slowly can convey that you are at a loss for words or are forgetting what you are supposed to say. It can also make the other person feel like you see them as someone with low intellect.
Don’t use too many filler words such as um or like.
Smile!
Picture this: Your teacher tells you to pick a partner for a project. One person has a warm, genuine smile. The other is scowling at you. Who are you more likely to pick?
A smile can help show that you are happy, interested, and trustworthy. They can also show that you are comfortable with your environment and the people around you, which is an indicator of confidence. Smiles are infectious and inviting!
Make sure that your smile is genuine. It should not feel forced or fake.
Real Smiles:
Are less likely to expose the bottom row of teeth
Use most of the facial muscles, as opposed to fake smiles which don’t use the whole face.
Usually, cause the eyes to move. If there is little to no eye movement, the smile is likely to be fake. Also, look out for if the person’s eyes are squinted or more open. Squinted eyes indicate genuine smiles.
References
Eye contact is important (crucial really) in communication- Betterup Blog
Tone of Voice: Why Your Voice Tone Matters- Ifioque
10 Tips for Improving Your Nonverbal Communication-Very Well Mind
Understanding Body Language and Facial Expressions- Very Well Mind
The Importance of Body Language Analysis- Mind Tools
10 Positive Body Language Techniques to Help You Succeed- Udemy
Positive Body Language With Examples- Harappa https://harappa.education/harappa-diaries/positive-body-language-with-examples/
Real Smiles Versus Fake Smiles- Bordentown Braces
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