It is fantastic to be able to fake confidence in front of your professional peers. We have shared with readers a series of articles dedicated to faking confidence in a variety of situations. Previous articles have looked at faking confidence when speaking in public, at a networking event, and in front of clients. Today, the final article in this seriesis about faking confidence with your professional peers.
Many professionals have a bit of a competitive streak as well as a desire to impress others. This fact is what makes people work long hours, take on extra assignments, and refuse to take vacations in order to meet deadlines. Competition when healthy, is a good thing for business and for professional advancement. The desire to please makes professionals work hard and smart in order to get positive attention from supervisors and peers. The competitive nature and desire to please are strong motivators, but they do not necessarily equate with confidence.
Often, a lack of confidence causes a professional to compete in unhealthy ways or to sabotage the efforts of others. Almost no professional wants her peers to think she lacks confidence or to think that she is not as good as her peers. When a professional does not have sufficient confidence, she needs some mechanisms to help her behave properly, compete in a healthy manner, and maintain her dignity.
If you are a professional in a competitive atmosphere, you must be able to show appropriate confidence and ability when interacting with your peers. Those of you who have been following the Fantastic Friday series throughout October already know two keys for helping anyone fake confidence:
1. Get dressed in your big girl panties and fake it until you make it dress
2. Research and preparation
Professionals are often predatory people who can sense the weak and prey upon them. So, if you are looking for ways to fake confidence in front of your professional peers, literally, stick your head up, pull your shoulders back and stand erect. Smile, walk with a swagger, and put on the physical appearance of a confident person. Our bodies give messages, are a language. If you start off looking confident, you can hide the fact that you don’t feel it yet.
So, instead of walking in sheep’s clothing, stand up straight, tall, and be the wolf. Next, keep up to date with information. Research and continually educate yourself about your industry, your company, and your job title. It is important to continually educate yourself whether formally or informally. Research and preparation provide knowledge.
Everyone has heard the old saying, “Knowledge is power.” The saying got to be an old one for a reason, it is true. Knowledge enables us to understand, make decisions, and be able to put together pieces of complex puzzles. Research, preparation, and knowledge give you the tools to fake confidence in front of your peers.
When you have are properly dressed to fake confidence (big girl panties and fake it until you make it dress) and have researched your industry, your job, and related matters you have the tools you need to fake confidence. There is an interesting fact I would like people reading this article to keep in mind. That fact is the tools I have given here for faking confidence will help you until the real thing comes.
It is inevitable that if you are dressed with the outward appearance of confidence and have researched and prepared for the tasks ahead of you, real confidence will come. It is like the saying from the movie “If you build it they will come.” When it comes to confidence, if you dress for it, if you research, and prepare for it, it will come, even with your peers. So the question for you this Fantastic Friday, is what is your secret when you need to fake confidence in front of your peers?
