Confidence: How to fake it 'til you make it

I'll never forget  my first retail job. I was a stylist at a high end women's clothing boutique and part of my job involved walking up to every customer that walked in the door and greeting them with a super friendly "Hi there! What brings you in today!?", then wrapping up the conversation that ensued with a lengthy list of promotions for the day. 

It terrified me. Walking up to total strangers and happily having a forced conversation with them was not my idea of fun, and in the beginning it was really hard to do. But within a few months, I had established a position as a sales expert, earning a promotion and numerous sales achievements. I was the go-to-girl. 

How did I do it? How did I go from timid teenager, to confident sales super-star so quickly?

Fake it

The fake it mantra  is how I've basically gotten through my entire life. We never start out confident in anything that we do for the first time, so it's important that you push yourself to take the initial scary steps.

The best advice that I could give for when you're nervous is to literally just pretend that you're not. Fake it. On the inside you can remain a neurotic, ball of anxiety. But on the outside you're going to look like the hot-shot that you are. As long as no one knows that you're actually freaking out inside your mind it's all gonna be okay, right? Right?! 

Tell yourself you're the best

No one is going to believe you're confident unless you 'believe' it yourself, so work on changing your mindset from "I can't do this, I'm not good enough" to " Wow, I'm great!". Tell yourself that you're the best, and remind yourself that you know what you're talking about. Let yourself know that you're an expert in what you do!

You can do this with mental reminders which can conveniently be done anywhere, or alternately take a moment to have a little quality mirror time with yourself. Look yourself in the eyes and verbally give yourself a pep talk.

Pretend everyone loves you

One of the main reasons why we feel nervous or lack confidence in ourselves is due to our fear of what others think of us. What if you sound stupid? What if you make a mistake? 

Something I like to do is tell myself that everyone thinks I'm the best. I like to do this during important presentations when I'm feeling nervous. When all those eyes are staring at me, I like to just look around and think to myself  "You… freaking… love me"

Body Language

We want everyone to think that we’re a total boss, and an expert in what we do. Your body language is the best way to give off that air of confidence that we are so desperately faking. Before walking into the room for an important interview or giving that important presentation, do a quick posture check. Make sure that you're standing up straight with your shoulders back. When meeting new people, make sure your handshake is firm and steady. Small details like this make it much more apparent that you are a confident person who knows what they're doing.

Confidence may not come naturally in a lot of settings, and it's something that we've all struggled with at some point. But take it from someone who knows; if you just fake it for a little bit, I promise that real "I'm the greatest" confidence is right around the corner!

For tips on how to make sure you look your absolute best, click here

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