⬇ Full Transcript of Episode #4 Below ⬇

Hey, this is Justin Prince.

How do you increase your confidence? If you’re about to walk into your next sales presentation, your next speech, your next conference call, even your next sales call or your next time in a situation where you need confidence, you need to show up, you need to have some presence. But right now, you’re like, “I don’t feel confident at all.” I want to share with you a tip [00:00:30] and the latest research, how you can literally biologically prime your body to show up with presence, show up with confidence.

This research comes from Harvard, from University of Oregon, University of Texas. Amy Cuddy wrote a book called Presence, where she kind of dissects all this research. So, let me give you an example. Presence is, have you ever met someone where they walk into the room, you’re like, “Who is this lady,” or walk into the room, you’re like, “Who’s this guy”? You described me to be like, I don’t know. They just like had this presence about them. There’s just the way about them. It’s just everyone was attracted to what they were… and I’m not talking about physically [00:01:00] attracted, I’m just saying they would have some strength like their magnetic. What Amy Cuddy wanted to figure out was, is that just like something that that lady has or something that guy has that the rest of us didn’t get? Like they were just born with it? Or can you actually biologically prime your body to create presence, to create confidence.

So here’s what she figured out. They have what they call high power and low power poses. So low power would just be like shoulders in, you cross your legs, hands like this, [00:01:30] fidgety, maybe hands are in your pockets, you’re just super like… you’ve given up all your power.

Even look at me right now, you’re just like it’s not as strong. Versus high power, shoulders back, you smile, chin up, like you stand super strong. You walk confidently. You walk strong. So here’s what the research says, it says if you’ll stand strong, if you’ll walk strong, if you’ll sit strong. So stand strong, like shoulders back, chin up, like you own your space, you own your presence. And if you’ll stand strong, sit stand, walk strong [00:02:00] for two minutes, you can actually biologically prime your body to release hormones that make you feel confident.

So in other words when you stand strong or you walk strong or you sit strong, your body tells your hormones, “We’re strong”. When you get that strength you become confident, even if right now you’re not feeling confident.

Now here’s the thing, Amy kind of talked about it, like the Wonder Woman pose, right like hands on the hip, shoulders back, super strong. Um if you think of the victory pose, if you watch Usain Bolt run the 100 meter [00:02:30] dash. What happens when someone wins the race? If you and I race and you won, what’s the natural reaction? Hands up in kind of a V, we put our chin up like this. [inaudible 00:02:40] They actually studied people who are blind from birth and when they ran a race, when the person won, guess what they naturally did. They had never seen someone do the victory pose. They put both hands up, and put their head up like this, put their chin up. Why? It’s just this natural power pose.

If you think of a gorilla, what’s a gorilla’s power pose? It’s like hands you know, silver back gorilla, like [00:03:00] shows strength. What that does, literally, is releases hormones that they now become stronger. If you’re hiking in the mountains and you see a mountain lion are you supposed to like oh my gosh shrink? No, you’re supposed to like get bigger and stronger. The stronger and bigger you become, literally, release hormones in your own body that say, “You know what, I’m strong, don’t mess with me.”

Here’s what the research says, the hormones will make you more assertive, more confident, more relaxed and less reactive to stress. It will also lower your cortisone levels. [00:03:30] Men primarily hold their cortisone, which is the stress hormone, in their belly fat. And then also it will raise your testosterone. Even if you’re a lady, raising your testosterone is a good thing in this example.

The other thing I wanted to encourage you guys to do with this, act as if. You might say to yourself, “so are we supposed to fake it until we make it? Is that what you believe?”. I don’t believe that at all. I don’t believe in manipulating people. Like you go out and buy a Ferrari when you’re broke so that people will think you’re rich? Like “fake it till you make it”? No that’s not what I’m saying. But what I am saying is you can act as if. So [00:04:00] let me give you an example, you can be totally authentic today, act as if and gain the strength today. Let me give you guys an example. If you want to lose ten pounds, right? Like your goal is to become ten pounds lighter, if you act today the way that you will act ten pounds lighter from now, you will lose the ten pounds. Start eating the way that you’ll eat ten pounds less than today, start exercising the way you’ll exercise ten pounds less than today. Guess what’s naturally going to happen.

Act as if today, authentically do the things today and you’ll walk right into the success. [00:04:30] You want to save more money in your bank account right? Start saving today the way you will when you have that target amount in there. Start disciplining your mind and changing your perspective of how you spend money to be that person, the person you’re aspiring to become. Act as if you are that person today.

So, if you’re already the entrepreneur you want to be, you have already built the business, if you’re already the leader that you want to be, you’re having the influence, the impact on peoples’ lives. If you’re already the sales professional, you’re hitting the top rates of your company, you’re already [00:05:00] earning the income that you would like to earn, how would you act today? And what I’m sharing is act as if you’re already that person. Hopefully you’ll become more humble, more gracious, more kind. You won’t turn into like an arrogant jerk when that happens.

The point is this, you can actually biologically prime your body when you walk strong, stand strong and sit strong to release the hormones that say, “You know what. I am strong. I can do this.”

So guys, I want to encourage you. Your dreams, your goals, they’re important. Your pursuing [00:05:30] them, is worth it and your accomplishing them, is necessary.