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Confidence-booster Activity:

Fake it ‘til you make it

It’s been said that there is only one thing you can fake as effectively as you can have: confidence.

I’m here to tell you that the method works, especially to boost your confidence before you address an audience.

Here is my five-step process to fake it ‘til you make it with presentations and public speaking:

STEP 1: Start by asking yourself “what you would do if you felt confident in this situation?” For starters, you’d probably conduct yourself in a similar way to when you’re comfortable. You’d stand up straight, you’d lead with your chest out, your chin high, and you’d smile.

STEP 2: Once you’ve identified 2-3 answers to the question in Step 1, tell your body to direct your brain to emulate those behaviours. For now, we’re just practicing at home, maybe in front of the bathroom mirror, but project the type of voice, body language and speech you envisioned from Step 1.

STEP 3: Before you get bogged down in memorizing lines or recounting statistics, define and focus on your goals of the presentation. If you’re giving a wedding speech, you want everyone to know how much you love the happy couple. That’s it. Start there, and keep your goals top of mind.

STEP 4: Now knowing what you want to do, and how you’re supposed to look while doing it: don't act, just do. Practice projecting those behaviours to convey the message you identified in Step 3. Don’t worry if it isn’t long enough, or good enough. Once you get it down, you can easily expand upon it.

STEP 5: Repeat. The act of practicing the body language, the voice and the speech will inherently make you more comfortable delivering it. The words will sound familiar and to say them will become second-nature with practice.

Before you know it, the confidence you’ve feigned will become the confidence you have. It’s gained through experience and repetition so remember to practice, practice, practice.