Confidence

Help, I have really low confidence in myself and my abilities. Its making me not perform as well as I should and know I can do at uni interveiws, any tips on improving confidence?

Also I have trouble making friends at first because I can come across as shy but it just that I think that no-one would want to talk to me. What can I do to at least make it look like I have some confidence!

Reply 1

lil_sweetie

If you look like you feel confident, people will think you are. Stand up straight, hold your head high and make eye contact with people - don't hide away in a corner and don't stand silently in a group of people. Find people with similar interests as you, and you'll find you have a lot to talk about.

Same goes for uni interviews - eye contact, sit up straight, don't sit with your hands under the table or fiddling with something. Your body language speaks a thousand words!
Good luck! x x

Reply 2

lil_sweetie

Reply 3

Vetinari

It's a weird cycle. If you display confidence and trick people somewhat, as lil sweetie described, then people will believe you have some confidence. Because of their reaction you will find that you are actually feeling more confident. So do as lil sweetie instructed.

I used to be fairly shy, not very confident at all, but to fix it I just decided that it was all just a game that I could win at. It's kind of hard to describe, but I began to treat talking to people I didn't know as a chance to test my abilities and kind of prove my worth a little. Most importantly I made sure that when I had put some effort in to be confident, I considered I had won. Very quickly my confidence grew until I could stop being so insecure. :smile: