5 tips on how to speak confidently in front of any person
Several tips on how not to maintain a submissive role in every conversation.
A simple conversation is more complex than it may seem at first glance. at first glance.
On the one hand, you have to take into account what you say, since it is not always easy to translate your thoughts into words, and on the other hand, you have to pay attention to how the other person reacts, what they say and what ideas and messages their speech entails. All this happens at the same time, in real time, and it has to be combined with the decisive influence of non-verbal language, which is capable of making our words have a totally different meaning depending on the context.
This makes some people prone to This makes some people prone to hesitation and insecurity when conversing with others.. In these cases, some tips on how to speak more confidently always come in handy.
Speaking with confidence: 5 very useful tips
First of all, it should be noted that adopting a communicative style that expresses greater confidence is a task that involves many psychological functions. This means that there is no magic solution to become charismatic overnight. However, with a little practice and perseverance, it is possible to notice very significant changes in the way we express ourselves... and also in the way the people we talk to react to us.
So, to speak more confidently in front of all kinds of people requires real training, which means that we need to do more than just speak in front of people.This means that simply reading and internalizing ideas and concepts is of little use. The tips you will read below have to be put into practice, out of theory, to help you in your social relationships. That said, let's move on to the tips.
1. Train eye contact
The simple fact of avoiding eye contact predisposes us to adopt a submissive role and to let the other person take the reins of the conversation. Therefore, it is good that at the beginning you focus on the task of avoiding those moments in which your gaze wanders from one side to another so as not to meet the gaze of the person in front of you.
However, the trick is not to stare obsessively into the eyes of our interlocutor, but simply to pay attention to the moments in which this "disconnection" occurs in order to correct them or, at least, to control them. This last nuance is important, because it is not necessary to maintain uninterrupted eye contact in a rigid manner, although it should predominate.
When you notice that you are looking at the other person in a way that is too "artificial" and unnatural, simply widen your visual radius of attention and unnatural, simply widen your visual radius of attention and look not at their eyes but at their face as a whole; that way, even if you don't realize it, the exchange of glances will be much more spontaneous.
2. Project your voice
It is better to perform this exercise alone, so that later, when it is time to apply it to real conversationsIt is better to do this exercise alone, so that later, when it comes to real conversations, it will only be necessary to modulate the tone, since you have already learned a good part of this pattern of movements of the mouth and neck muscles.
For this purpose, it is good to combine the rehearsal alone with the imagined visualization. Close your eyes, imagine a real conversational context, and modulate your voice until it takes on a quality that expresses assertiveness and self-assurance. The more vivid the scene, the better.
3. Improve your articulation when speaking
There are people whose insecurity when speaking is due to small defects in speech. When they notice them, they try to mask them by speaking softly and keeping a discreet profile in general. If this is your case and you think that these defects are very pronounced, you can consider seeing a speech therapist. If you think they are not very pronounced, it is worth practicing on your own.
This is another task that you can do on your own. To do this, at first you will have to "warm up" the muscles of the mouth, and then speak in an improvised monologue, paying attention to small pronunciation errors. Remember the words you have missed and try to roughly reproduce the sentence in which they were included until you pronounce them well. This task can be tedious, but correcting your articulation helps to avoid insecurity.
On the other hand, keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes relatively often when speaking.. Therefore, do not become obsessed with these errors if you think that their frequency of occurrence is comparable to that of other people; in fact, interlocutors tend not to pay attention to them and automatically "fill in" the void of meaning that these imperfections should theoretically produce.
4. Distinguish yourself from the situation
Virtually all of us have the ability to distance ourselves from the experiences we are living in the here and now. This means that we make a slight emotional disconnect with respect to what is happening. It is something similar to what happens with derealization, a psychological phenomenon by which we have the feeling that the place where we are, some people or living beings, or the context in general, are parts of a set, something that does not mean much.
So, when you notice that in a conversation you may show a significant degree of insecurity, try to distance yourself, assuming that the person talking to you, while still human, is not so important in spite of everything, nor indispensable for you to continue living. Their opinions about you are of very relative importanceand also has a very limited and imperfect perception of who you are. This is an exercise that is also common in the world of actors and actresses, in which the fear of making a fool of oneself is combated.
5. Work on your self-esteem
If you want to go beyond the specific problem of insecurity in speaking, it is good to work on improving your self-esteem. There are different methods to do this, although going to a psychologist can help you a lot when it comes to planning training and belief modification programs, monitoring your progress and controlling any problems that may arise.
(Updated at Apr 12 / 2024)