Body language hacks can really up your lifestyle and give you more confidence. Stop reading for a moment, and notice how you are sitting or standing. If someone were to walk in the room right now, what judgments might they make about you simply based on your body language?
A large percentage of communication happens from body language. This includes posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Your body language might reveal your true feelings or intentions.
Perhaps you feel tired, angry, bored, frustrated, or enthusiastic, but some of these might not be feelings you want to communicate in a given situation. Do you really want your boss to read your body language that shows you are bored with his speech? If not then given below are a few hacks for you.
These 20 Body Language Hacks can Lift your Confidence and your power to influence people.
20 Body Language Hacks
1. Mirror the person you’re speaking to.
Mirroring is aligning your body to match the position of whoever you’re speaking to. It can be a tough skill to master. But doing it shows admiration and agreement. It shows a positive attitude and the other person feels like you are agreeing with his/her thoughts.
It can be hard to do this subtly, without looking like you’re mimicking or mocking someone, but it’s a good trick to employ if you’re trying to make a good impression.
2. Walk with purpose and energy.
Not everyone walks with confidence. Some of us shuffle through life with a slumping, awkward gait.
And it can be tough to change the way we walk. But if you take some steps to improve it, you can help to ensure that people don’t make snap judgments about your confidence, attractiveness, and trustworthiness, according to Scientific American.
3. Maintain good eye contact.
It’s all in the eyes.
People with a shaky gaze often come across as anxious, distracted, or dishonest. It can be tough to master the skill of maintaining eye contact since it’s an uncomfortable and unnatural thing for some people. But it’s a practice that can help you immensely in life.
Luckily, there are some simple techniques for maintaining better eye contact if you feel your stare isn’t cutting it.
You should pretend that your eyes are glued to the conversation of your partner.
Once you master this trick, you’ll immediately see an improvement in your face-to-face communications with others.
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4. Keep your hands visible.
It’s hard to know what to do with your hands sometimes, especially if you’re a somewhat nervous person.
As a result, you might take to compulsively jamming your hands in your pockets or crossing your arms. Those moves are understandable, but they also project a somewhat negative image.
It is important to keep your hands visible, otherwise, you will look like you’re hiding something.
Invite people in and allow them to trust you by using more open body language. Avoid positions that make you appear defensive or nervous.
5. Don’t fidget, but don’t be too stiff.
Some people are just a bit twitchy – always drumming their fingers, tapping their feet, or twirling their hair. Some people are almost unnaturally still. The problem is that others may mistake that for dishonesty or fear.
If you can strike a balance between swaying and stiffness, you’ll be able to make a better impression with others. Don’t fidget with your fingers a lot and pay attention to what the other person is saying.
6. Sit up straight.
Sitting straight is another factor that determines confidence. Slouching can be seen as a posture of disinterest. Lack of confidence often leads to slumping on the chair.
Sitting up straight is seen as a sign of intelligence, confidence, and credibility.
Anyone with bad posture can tell you that correcting your slouch is not always easy, but it’s worth it in the long run.
7. Work on your handshake.
No one wants to receive a “dead fish” handshake. It is often referred to as a sign of weakness.
So how do you give a great handshake?
When squeezing your hand you want the grip to be tight enough to feel the bones of the other person’s hand lightly pressing into your skin and then keeping the same amount of pressure while you make two to three moderately strong shakes in the vertical plane. Maintain eye contact and a smile throughout.
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8. Slow down
When you’re nervous, it can be easy to speed up everything, including your speech and movements. It’s far better to try to slow things down than to speed up your speech and make other people confused. It shows anxiety issues and portrays weakness.
So take a deep breath, slow down, and be more deliberate about your movements at your next meeting. You’ll look far more confident and competent.
9. Practice smiling.
Smiling not only makes you more attractive and trustworthy, it also improves your health, your stress level, and your feelings about yourself. Smiling slows the heart and relaxes the body, and it releases endorphins that counteract and diminish stress hormones. It also has been shown to increase productivity while performing tasks.
Smiling can trick your brain into feeling happy, even when you feel sad as you’re smiling.
10. Use power poses.
Standing or sitting with certain poses for as little two minutes raises testosterone levels and lowers cortisol (the stress hormone). These poses can impact your performance, as well as your success at work, with clients, and in your relationships. Many of the poses involve opening your body and taking up space, making you feel more confident and powerful.
You should also watch this amazing Ted Talk about power posing and how it can change your life.
11. Use engaged body language.
If you want to reach an agreement, win the girl, persuade someone to your side of things, engaged body language gives you more confidence and sends powerful messages to others to win them over.
Engaged body language involves using open gestures, smiling and nodding, and mirroring the expressions and movements of the other person. Once you’ve reached your goal, seal the deal by offering a firm handshake, saying “thank you”, and using good posture.
12. Remember your arms and legs.
Crossing your legs, arms and ankles are the symbols for your body language.
- Arms suggests you feel defensive, self-protective and closed off.
- Legs away from another person can suggest you dislike them or feel discomfort.
- Ankles can signal you are holding something back and not expressing it.
If you clasp your hands behind your back, you might be saying you feel bored, anxious, or even angry. Hands clasped and crossed over the genitals is a self-comfort gesture that reveals vulnerability or shyness. Tapping your fingers and fidgeting tells others you are bored, impatient, or frustrated.
13. Dress for confidence.
Clothes do make a difference in how we perceive ourselves, and how others perceive us. Dressing confidently is more than wearing the trendiest fashion. It’s about feeling good, looking poised and being self-assured and having a confident posture in all situations.
It’s also about sending the right message to the people you are with. You can boost your confidence in yourself and your attire when you dress appropriately for the occasion, know the audience, reflect your personal style, and understand the impact of colour.
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14. Entering a Room
Walking into a room
The moment you enter a room is the moment you expose yourself to the judgment of the people in that room. Make sure to make use of that. Regardless of whether you are, smile when you enter a room. Smile like you really like what you are seeing. Don’t overdo it, don’t laugh out loud. Smile like you stepped outside and noticed the sun was shining.
15. Relax Your Shoulders
Holding your shoulders by your ears is a sign of tension, and stands to put your conversation partner on edge as well. So make sure that your shoulders are relaxed and you portray confidence. Do not look tensed or else it might make a wrong impression.
16. Lean In
Have you ever had a conversation that you’re both really enthusiastic about? You’ll probably notice you both are lively and leaning in towards each other. Leaning in shows that you are interested in the other persons’s talk. Although leaning in should not turn into slouching.
17. Don’t End Sentences with Upswings
Although intonation isn’t quite body language, it warrants mentioning since it’s part of the subconscious messages we communicate. Ending your sentences like questions indicates a lack of confidence in what you’re saying, which does nothing to instill others’ confidence in you. Be confident in anything you say and once said, do not go back or question it even if it is wrong.
18. The Power of Touch
Everybody wants to feel special. We all have our stories, our triumphs, our tales of woe and glory. And even if we don’t admit it, we love it when people take an interest in our unique life.
So be radically curious when you meet people. They will feel far more connected to you.
19. Keep Your Feet Hip Width Apart
An important part of being liked is being trusted.
And being trusted means that you feel grounded and steady and that you might not tip over any second.
If you wobble, or bounce on your feet, or totter with all your weight on one foot, you create a sense of unease and unsteadiness. Imagine an Executive, or a President or a General. They stand solid. So should you.
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20. Breathe to the Point Just Below your Belly
Deep breathing supports a strong, upright spine and a relaxed posture. Shallow breath, by contrast, connotes nervousness. If you take short sharp breaths, people are apt to wonder, “What are you so nervous about? What are you hiding? What’s bothering this guy?”
So especially if you are in any way nervous or have social anxiety, just take three big breaths. Hold the breath there a moment and let out slowly on a four-count. Your body will naturally relax.
And people will relax with you.
So here you have it. 20 Body Language Hacks that works. You can boost your confidence and command respect among your peers.
