How to Be Confident in School By Explore Editor
“Fake it till you make it.” An old phrase, revisited and revised.”Be it and you’ll become it!”
“Fake it till you make it” and its corollary “acting as if” encourage people to pretend to be confident. The phrases advise you to act as if you were someone else, not your true self. Many people have trouble with this artifice and rightfully so. They want to be genuine, “to thine own self be true.”1
But this pride in unadulterated self can be taken to the extreme when one is in an interview. You want to be yourself, your best self. Oftentimes expectations become reality. If you expect something to work out well– your “confidence” can produces success. After you exude confidence and end up with positive results, it will become your new natural and generate real confidence.
Of course we don’t want to fake our way through life. No one wants to be tagged with that label. But as you practice for the interview, creating your persuasive “talking points,” you can refine the message you wish to convey. And your practice makes it permanent so you gain more confidence in yourself. Confidence is attractive. Confidence is positive. Your confidence engenders their confidence in you. In essence it “sells” your story more convincingly and isn’t that what you want when you interview? You have to first believe in yourself for them to become your advocate.
Changing behavior can change your attitude. In research at Wake Forest University, scientists asked a group of 50 students to act like extroverts for 15 minutes in a group discussion, even if they didn’t feel like it. The more assertive and energetic the students acted, the happier they were.2 Additionally if we smile when we read the comics they actually appear funnier. Try it yourself. We naturally imitate – why else would they put a laugh track on sitcoms but to encourage our mirror neurons to think that the situation or words were funny.
So when you practice for that interview think of what they want. Show them that what they want is within you and demonstrate how you can benefit them. Be your best self. Be it and you’ll become it.
To learn more tips and techniques for better communication results, please contact Making Conversation.
Author Bio:
Peggy Wallace’s Making Conversation offers group and private conversational skills sessions as well as private interview preparation, with videotaped interview practice. Interview prep for college, jobs and scholarships assists you in developing clear, concise, persuasive and relevant personal stories which exhibit your individual strengths.
Peggy is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania/Wharton School and Boston University School of Law. Peggy was a regional alumna volunteer interviewer for undergraduate admissions to Penn/Wharton for over 25 years. Peggy’s business experience includes corporate attorney, fundraiser and financial services sales consultant.
Contact Peggy for private sessions at Tel # (760) 803-2641 or e-mail Peggy at [email protected]
1Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3, 78–82 , William Shakespeare
2How You Too Can Be an Optimist, Prevention, December 2006.N.B. This example is given to indicate that changing behavior can change attitude, not for its assumptions that being more extroverted makes one happier.