05/01/2024

People Who Speak With Confidence Do These Three Things

The first step is to cool yourself down

Do you wish you could speak with more confidence? When speaking to your peers, employees, investors, or customers--or even a large audience--do you want to project the calm self-assurance that seems to come naturally to some lucky people?

Even if the thought of speaking up in front of people gives you the heebie-jeebies, there are things you can do to manage that feeling, says Stanford lecturer and communication instructor Matt Abrahams, host of the highly popular podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart and author of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out.

"Most people feel nervous when they speak in front of others," Abrahams said. "Those of us who study it believe that it is ingrained into being human and it's part of our evolutionary history." As human beings evolved, we affiliated with groups of about 150 people, he explained. "Your relative status in that group was incredibly important. By status, I don't mean who drives a fancy car, it's access to resources. If you had high status among the group, you got shelter, you got food. If you had low status, literally, your life was in danger."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Inc.