Fake It 'til You Become It!

Judgments about people can be formed quickly based on non-verbal communications, or body language. Picture Wonder Woman, if you will,  in her strong, powerful pose. Simply by looking at her conclusions are drawn that she is a confidant, dominant woman.  Her body language says that she has opened herself up, that she is ready to take on the world, not closed or wrapped herself up to us.

Social psychologist, Amy Cuddy, studies non-verbals and has conducted much research into how body language can govern how we think and feel about ourselves.  Can our postures effectively change our minds? In this 20 minute speech, she'll briefly cover her research and you'll learn how:

our bodies change our mind, 

and our minds can change our behavior,

and our behavior changes our outcomes. 

Cuddy demonstrates through her research how by striking the Wonder Woman pose, for example, especially before an evaluative situation such as an interview, your testosterone (confidence, dominance hormone) levels increase while your cortisol (stress hormone) levels decrease so that your mind changes your behavior so that your presence is noted with confidence. Initially, she explains how you may feel uncomfortable to the point that you think you are faking it, that you are an impostor, but she encourages you to challenge yourself to continue "faking it til you have become it!" Walk away from that interview, that important meeting with your boss or whatever it might be knowing that you said who you are rather than wishing you had expressed who you are. Even if you are terrified and feel like you're faking it, get out there, strike the pose, and continue to do it until you become it! 

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, don't walk into the interview, meeting, etc in your Wonder Woman pose, but strike it in the privacy of a restroom stall or if you're the only one in the elevator.  Just some place where you won't have to explain yourself!

 http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are