Should You Fake Confidence?

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
- Norman Vincent Peale

In business and in life, confidence is a very important trait. It can help us get a new job, win over a new client, and build relationships with new business partners.

For some, confidence comes naturally. They walk with their heads held high and make decisions with ease. They go into every situation with an optimistic outlook, and even if things don’t turn out quite as they hoped, they keep looking forward. It seems that nothing can stop them.

But for others, self-assuredness doesn’t come so easy. Sometimes they aren’t confident in their abilities. Others, they simply don’t believe in their own people skills. Whatever the reason, a lack of confidence can be a deal breaker in all sorts of situations, from getting a date to getting into the college of your choice to scoring a new account at work.

Many a business guru has suggested that those who lack confidence simply pretend to be sure of themselves. This “fake it ‘til you make it” mentality has been the subject of many books, seminars and coaching programs. But does it really work?

In the short term, it can. If you’ve got a big meeting with a prospective client coming up in 20 minutes and you’re sweating bullets, faking confidence may be your only option. So you take a deep breath, go over your key selling points, walk in with a smile on your face and give a firm handshake. After much eye contact and tooting your own horn, you walk out with a deal. But then what?

You accomplished your immediate objective: getting a new client. That’s wonderful! But this is only the beginning of your relationship with that client. You’ll probably be meeting with him again, and talking on the phone to him, and exchanging emails. Will you be able to keep up the façade? Or will your “confidence” erode a little with each encounter? And what about interactions with other potential clients – will you be able to fake it convincingly with them?

Instead of Faking It, Build It

“Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.”
-Sophia Loren

When you fake confidence, you’re just putting up a temporary front. That can work in some situations. But it’s not a long-term solution. In order for confidence to work, it must be genuine. It must emanate from deep inside you. It must be natural and effortless.

That doesn’t mean that if you lack confidence, you’re doomed to a life of failure. It means that you must build up your confidence. It’s really not as hard as you might think.

It’s okay if you have to fake it at first. In fact, that’s not a bad idea at all. Faking confidence is certainly better than going into a situation feeling that you’re destined to lose and letting it show. And when you’re dealing with someone for the first time, it’s quite possible that they won’t know the difference. As long as you do your best impersonation of a confident person – pay attention to your posture, keep your voice steady, participate fully in conversations and call everyone by name – there’s a good chance that it will work out to your advantage.

It’s what happens after that initial success that counts. You must let yourself enjoy your victory, and take full credit for it. All too often, businesspeople who lack confidence fail to do this. They are happy that things worked out in their favor, but they don’t realize that they made it happen. They call it a fluke, or chalk it up to the forces of the universe, or think “Boy, I really pulled the wool over his eyes!”

Instead of continuing such a pattern of negative thinking, why not use your victories to build up genuine confidence? Now that you have an accomplishment under your belt, use it to remind yourself that you are capable of great things. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t reached your big career goal. You’ve won a battle that puts you one step closer to it. And that’s certainly something to be proud of.

To make the most out of the experience, replay it in your mind and analyze what you did to make it a success. The way you carried and expressed yourself likely had a hand in it, but that will only get you so far. In order to convince a client that you’re the best man or woman for the job, you’ve got to have something that sets you apart from the competition. Was your presentation spectacular? Did you create a sample that blew them away? Put yourself in the client’s shoes and figure out why you made the cut. Then file that information away to boost your confidence when you need it most.

The next time you have a client meeting, you might be a little nervous. That previous victory might not have provided all of the confidence you need to get through another one. But if you allowed yourself to take credit for it, you should have at least a little more confidence than you did before. Use that to propel you through, and fake it a little if you must. When you succeed once again, you’ll have something else to bolster your confidence in the future.

Of course, we can’t all be victorious every time. But it’s crucial not to let that knock down the confidence you’ve already built up. If you experience a setback, analyze it just as you would a victory. Determine where you went wrong, or if the result was even any fault of your own. File your conclusion away for future reference, and then return your focus to the times when you have been successful.

After a few successes and acknowledgements that you are responsible for those successes, confidence should no longer be an issue. You should be able to walk into any situation with a positive attitude, and that should show in both your speech and your body language. Instead of faking it, you’ll have a natural aura of optimism and self-assuredness. You’ll attract the respect – and the success – that you deserve.

Related Videos
Play Video Unexpected Migraine Relief	Play Video New Prosthetic Leg	Play Video How to Build Your Dog's Confidence with a Buja Board	Play Video The Importance of Confidence	Play Video Bikeskills.com: Downhill with Minnaar

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "Self Improvement" article category.

People interested in the above article "Should You Fake Confidence?" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

 

How To Earn Trust Back In 3 Simple Steps

Learning how to earn trust back can be tricky. Once lost, it may take more than just an apology to get back. Fortunately, this article will show you 3 simple steps to get anyone to trust you again.

Reach Better Lifestyle By Changing Your Mindset

An individual showing any pattern of strong behavior we normally claim "The guy's got attitude". This common remark actually appears justifiable. A person's behavioral pattern is directly influenced by his set of behaviors he has acquired through his younger years. This set of behaviors is known as a mindset and essentially rules how you direct your life. You can alter your mindset and attain an improve lifestyle if you wish to, and this has been introduced convincingly in a well crafted book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck.

How To Control People: 3 Mind Control Techniques To Get What You Want

Knowing how to control people gives you a huge advantage. It allows you to win over arguments, avoid confrontations and advance your career. Of course, we're not talking about blackmailing your officemates or even your boss. There are ways to go about this using ethical mind control techniques. If you want to know how to control people the right way, read on!

Self Improvement Ideas - Tips to Overcoming Obstacles to Your Progress Part 1

This is part 1 of a two-part feature on learning how to overcome obstacles to your progress, with essential tips to help you achieve this goal. While it may seem to be overwhelming, a life coach would be of great help in your journey towards achieving the progress over your obstacles by instilling self improvement and personal growth. You will learn how to deal with negative emotions and negative feelings and transform it into better results in your life.

Improve Dream Recall for Enhanced Creativity, Healing, Problem-Solving, Adventure and much more

Dreams are storehouses of creative inspiration for new artistic works, solving problems at work and in your relationships, healing emotional wounds and physical illnesses, learnngi new skills, and finding deep spiritual fulfillment as you explore the third of life you spend asleep. Wouldn't you like to remember more dreams and experience the powerful benefits your subconscious is offering every night? Here are proven techniques for recalling more dreams, starting within a week or less.

Conflict Resolution Tips: 3 Simple Tips To Stop Conflicts And Arguments

In a perfect world, conflict resolution tips are not necessary since people get along with everyone. You like your boss. You get along with your 12-year-old sister. Your neighbors respect you. Your colleagues worship you. Unfortunately, this so-called perfect world does not exist. What we have instead is a world of different people with differing opinions and - as much as we wish it to not be so - the perfect formula for instigating conflict. There's nothing we can do about it, but there are conflict resolution tips we can use to do damage control.

How to Avoid Sabotaging Ourselves

Everyone wants to be beautiful, young, healthy and fit. There is no end to the diets, workouts and health plans. Yet the most important diet of all has been overlooked. This is a diet that releases stress, relaxes muscles, offers sound sleep, diminishes appetite, and makes you look and feel younger; it brings you new friends, a happy work environment, good relationships, and adds years to your life.