Do you ever feel anxious or nervous in social settings?
Would you like to feel more confident when meeting new people?
When I very first got in to the world of entertainment I really struggled walking up to a group of people, or even one person, and starting a conversation. I spent a lot of time working on overcoming my social fears and I know that if I can do it then so can you. While these exercises may seem simple consistently doing small things like this over the space of a few weeks will have a profound impact on your confidence levels.
# 1 - hold eye contact for longer than normal, a great place to do this is in the car at the traffic lights, turn and look at the person in the car next to you, if you manage to make eye contact hold a gentle gaze and a slight smile, the key here is to not be the first to look away, couple of pointers if someone looks like the kind of person who would instantly jump out their car and start shouting then probably best to avoid them, also don't try and do this while moving, being stationary is the key and finally if you are in the car with your partner probably best not to carry out this exercise as they might get the wrong idea.
#2 - There are a couple options here depending on how adventurous you are feeling, however they both involve a lift.
(Option 1) Hold the lift door open as everyone gets in, you get in last but stay facing everyone, this ones feels awkward but the nervous rush you get from it is amazing.
(Option 2) There is a natural tendency to either look up at the floor numbers or down towards our toes or mobile phone, we hardly ever keep our chins level when in a lift, so option 2 is keep your chin level and look around.
Now a little addition you can add to both of these options, and I highly encourage this, is to start a conversation by simply asking “how you doing, got any exciting plans today?” or “hey, how you doing whats on for today” remember you are in a lift so this conversation won’t even last long.
# 3 - Turn to the person behind you in the coffee shop and ask a conversational question, nothing to probing, just something simple,
it could be something topical like, 'what did you think of the game last night?’
it could be something situational like ‘have you tried the coffee here before, a friend told me its amazing’
or it could be something observational ‘how nice is this weather, the big question now is do I take lunch back to the office or get some fresh air, what do you think’
So there you have it 3 confidence boosting ideas, these are all things that I have used in the past that have helped me build my confidence to the point where I can now stand on stage in front of 2000 people with certainty.
If you have enjoyed this video please hit the share button, my goal is to help as many people as possible either through free online videos like this or more intensive live trainings.
Anthony Laye - Take Action, Create Your Story