How to Exude Confidence in 10 Easy Ways

Whether you're pitching a product or service or selling yourself in a job interview, confidence is critical in convincing others to hire you, do business with you or associate themselves with you.

Your display of confidence can make or break it for you.

People want to work with individuals who seem like they have it all together. Whether you do or not is another story, but people can see confidence.

First impressions are crucial in generating positive outcomes from your interactions.

The moment people see and interact with you, they automatically make assumptions about you. You and I do it too. It's normal.

You want them to make the best possible assumptions about you.

Their impression may be completed based on your posture, eye contact, or voice. Many factors can display your confidence or lack of confidence.

Sometimes the words we say and how we say them are the things that make us appear confident.

The good news is that anyone can learn to do the right things when communicating with others.

Let's look at why confidence matters.

The importance of confidence

Displaying and feeling confident is very important to achieve your goals.

Confident people have greater success in life.

When you lack confidence, it's hard to believe in your potential and to feel inspired to pursue your goals. This makes it harder to take action, and nothing happens without action.

The negative effects of this lack of action will ripple into all areas of your life. You may struggle to find a job, earn a promotion, and build relationships that support your growth and success.

When you have confidence, it's the opposite. You have more opportunities and improvements across all areas of your life. You also have better relationships with others and overall living conditions.

Confidence is built from within and from your actions. Luckily, even if you find yourself anxious in a given situation, you can still learn to appear more confident to handle that situation the best way possible.

By performing actions that exude confidence, you'll be more comfortable, and you'll begin to feel more confident.

Here are the 10 best ways to exude confidence and appear as a confident person in all of your interactions.

These tips are simple and easy to implement, and they'll have an immediate effect.

Beliefs

Your belief system is crucial in creating confidence. You must believe in your ability to do what you want to do and achieve what you want to achieve.

If you believe you can't do something, no technique will ever work.

You have to permit yourself to try to do things you think you can't do before making that decision.

Before we dive into the external ways to exude confidence, let's look at our inner beliefs because they dictate our actions. Let's focus on building inner confidence first.

1) Focus on Your Strengths

When you focus on your strengths, you're more likely to feel confident about yourself. Don't beat yourself up over your weaknesses.

What are your strengths? Where do you excel? What are your special talents? How can you use those talents and skills?

Take a minute to think about your strengths and how you could use them to help you reach your goals.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Think of all the things you do well that others cannot.

2) Self-Talk

Confident people watch their self-talk. We all know that self-talk has a big impact on our confidence, so let's talk about our inner dialogue and why it matters.

Think about how many times you have told yourself negative things about yourself.

"I can't do it." "This is not me." "What would they think if I did this?"

Did you feel better after saying them out loud? Do you notice a difference in your confidence energy?

There are many things we tell ourselves every day that drain us and make us feel bad about ourselves.

If we are not careful, our negative thoughts will affect our emotions, decisions and results.

Our mind plays tricks on us because it wants to conserve as much energy as possible.

Going outside of our comfort zone is scary and takes a lot of energy. It certainly doesn't help to think about a thousand reasons why we can't succeed.

Learn to talk to yourself the way you speak to others you love.

You would never bring a friend or family member down as they prepare for a presentation, an interview or an important event, so why do it to yourself?

A study found that the average person has up to 60,000 thoughts per day, of which 80% were negative, and 95% were the same as the previous day.

Let me repeat that. 80% were negative. 95% were the same as the previous day.

How do you think you'll feel with those negative thoughts? You'll feel pretty negative about your experiences.

It's pretty hard to feel confident about yourself with this kind of self-talk! Others will pick up on that too!

How many times have you worried about things that never happened?

For me, too many times. Enough to stop me from making an important decision.

Your self-talk has a massive influence on how you feel and do.

It is self-fulfilling, so watch your thoughts! Self-talk can make a big difference in your ability to do anything.

The better your self-talk, the more confident you will be.

‍

3) Remember your successes

When we reflect on our success, we feel more confident. When we remember our past victories, we see ourselves as capable.

But, how often do we look back at our achievements and remember how we felt then?

Not very often. We tend to take those moments for granted only to focus on our failures.

It's important to remember how we felt during our achievements. We were proud, happy, and felt like winners, and we were ready to move forward.

This helps us keep going. The more we get excited about our capabilities, the more confident we will feel when taking action.

‍

‍

4) Stop Comparing Yourself

Comparing ourselves to others can be very destructive. It can make us feel bad about ourselves.

When we compare ourselves with others, we compare our weaknesses, flaws, and behind-the-scenes with the strengths and highlight reels of others. It's unrealistic and unfair!

We look at others and think that we don't measure up. It feels like we are failing, so we feel bad about ourselves. We prime ourselves to have low self-confidence, and part of us gives up before even trying.

It's natural to compare yourself to others. We all do it.

It can inspire us to improve, but most times, it does the complete opposite.

The only person we should compare ourselves to is who we were yesterday. That's the only fair comparison you can make.

Don't dwell on what you don't have. Because no matter who you are, there are things about you that others admire. Now, there are things in your life that your past self could only dream of having.

So stop comparing yourself to others. You'll have much greater self-esteem.

Body Language

Now that we've covered your belief and self-talk, let's look at body language.

When you walk into a room, your body language is the first thing people notice about you.

Body language is the non-verbal expression that we express how we feel.

It affects us in ways that we don't always realize. Often, these are out of our control because our body moves without us knowing.

We must pay attention to our body language because it unintentionally brings us down. It's also important to be mindful of the body language of others.

Don't overthink it, but the next time you interact with someone, keep in mind these body language cues as they are vital in how others perceive you.

Applying just a few of the following tips will help you exude confidence and improve your communication skills.

‍

‍

5) Eye contact

We should always look people in the eye when we talk to them. Eye contact is a powerful way to communicate with others.

It can be a little uncomfortable at first. But, once we get the hang of it, we will feel more confident and less stressed about it.

When we look people in the eyes, we show that we are interested in them. This can be positive or negative, depending on how you are doing. If you are nervous, you may appear too anxious.

If you are feeling nervous, don't just look around the room. Look directly at them and focus on what they are telling you. Forget your inner voice and listen.

You'll appear to be more confident and focused.

A person who looks you in the eyes says they are listening in the present moment.

Try to maintain eye contact throughout the conversation.

‍

‍

6) Sit upright/Stand up straight

Good posture is crucial. Our posture is essential in how we present ourselves to other people.

We should sit upright or stand up straight with our shoulders back. This will help us feel more confident and in control. It also makes us appear more authoritative.

The power pose is a real thing. Just posing like Superman/Superwoman will increase your testosterone levels. Check out this Ted talk from Amy Cuddy about body language.

We should not slouch or slump as it can make us appear more vulnerable.

7) Mirror others

When talking to someone, it can be helpful to mirror their body language.

You can mirror their posture, movement and tone of voice.

Of course, don't start copying every single move they make but pinpoint a few and try to mirror them.

For example, if you see someone cross their leg, try to cross your slowly shortly after they do it

This is a great way to show that we understand what they are saying. It helps us build a relationship with them because we appear to be similar.

When you start mirroring others, you'll notice that you'll feel less anxious, which will make you feel more confident. The person speaking with you will also feel it!

Here are ways you can mirror someone:

Nonverbal

Nodding: nodding a few times shows you agree with them, which helps you connect with them.

Composure/Posture: how do they stand or sit? Do they cross their legs or arms?

Eye contact: how much eye contact do they have while speaking to you?  

Facial expressions: is their facial expression happy or sad, angry, worried? Are they expressive when they talk?

Gestures: do they use hand gestures a lot when they speak?

Verbal

Tone of voice: how do they speak?

Pace/Cadence: do they speak slowly or fast?

Word choice: what are they saying with their words? What words or expressions do they use?

8) Be Present

Being present is key in displaying our level of confidence.

Listening and maintaining eye contact will help you appear more confident and in control.

If you are constantly looking at your phone or have fidgeting habits, it could be a sign of anxiety.

This shows that you are in a hurry, worried about something or just uninterested.

By being fully present, we can better understand what they are communicating to us. It's easier to respond and maintain the conversation.

As a result, the conversation is more enjoyable for both parties.

When you're both enjoying the conversation, the person will naturally find you more confident.

9) Smile

Smile! Smiling is powerful in building and showing confidence.

It can boost your mood, improve your relationships and give you a sense of self-control.

Most importantly, a smile says a lot about who we are. A genuine smile will make people feel more connected and confident about you. You'll look trustworthy.

You don't have to flash your teeth. A simple smile can be very effective.

There's no reason not to smile. You get to connect with the person, elevate your mood, and be in the right state of mind. All will increase your confidence.

10) Hand Gestures

Hands communicate a lot. They say so much without ever saying anything at all. They convey to people if you're interested in them or not, how you feel and how comfortable you are.

Hold your hands in a relaxed manner, not tight or stiff. Keep your hands at your sides, not crossed over your chest or tucked into your pockets.

If you're unsure what to do with your hands while speaking to someone, try the hand steeple or the interlaced fingers with your thumbs up. Both are excellent gestures to display confidence. You'll show that you're attentively listening to them.

Don't force it off course, do it all in a relaxed way.

The Takeaway on How to Exude Confidence

In this post, we covered 10 easy ways for you to exude confidence in any interaction. While body language is important, it's not the only part of the equation. Do not forget your mind.

Your confidence level will improve when you pay attention to your body language, internal dialogue and mindset.

Indeed, both your physical and emotional state have a significant role in building confidence. One does not go without and may significantly affect the other.

If you're still learning to express positive body language, you won't be able to start applying these tips in a single day. Start gradually as you speak with others. A little bit in every interaction goes a long way.