With the beginning of the new year and the influx of New Year’s resolutions peppering my news feeds, I felt like I needed to make some resolutions. Or, at least think about things I could change/improve. I didn’t want to burn out mid-January, however, so I decided to take a slightly more unconventional route toward self-improvement. I borrowed the audio version of Amy Cuddy’s book about body language and self-empowerment, Presence, from the library. I listened to it as I ran on the treadmill and drove around Little Rock. As I listened to more case studies and internalized more affirmations, I realized that this book could not be more relevant to my senior-spring-semester-looking-for-a-job self.
While I would recommend everyone read or listen to Presence, at least watch the TEDTalk that started it all.
Did you take notes? Are you ready to change your life?
Never fear. If you don’t have time in your busy Davidson schedule to watch a twenty-minute video or listen to a nine-hour audiobook, I wrote down some messages from the book I found powerful.
- The basics: Power poses raise your self-esteem and help you knock out interviews and life in general.
- Turn anxiety into excitement. We’re always anxious about something. And angst isn’t good for us. Excitement is a similar emotion to anxiety. If we make a conscious effort to channel our anxieties about the future into excitement, our brains will be happier.
- Don’t be so focused on the outcome that you don’t pay attention to the process. This goes for being present during presentations and networking events, as well as larger events like your last semester of college. If you only focus on outcomes, you neglect large parts of your life.
- Find self-affirmative traits to pump yourself up before doing important/scary things. You can be your own worst enemy, but you are also your best cheerleader.
- Trust and warmth are more important to others than confidence. If you come off as too confident in an encounter, you will intimidate the other person, and they will leave with a negative impression. You want them to trust you. So don’t power pose in an interview. Power pose in private BEFORE to boost your own confidence, so then you’ll come off as warmer in an encounter.
As these notes imply, there’s more to “presence” than just standing like Superman for two minutes before a presentation. Whether you have an internship interview, networking event, or midterm review around the corner, consider some of these helpful suggestions. It might sound hyperbolic, but these ideas have changed people’s lives (just check out the testimonials on Amy’s website).
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