You find yourself walking towards the first stand of the competition early one morning, but you are just not feeling it! You are a little doubtful of your abilities even though you have seen and broken these same targets a hundred times before. Your lack of confidence shows up in your physical presence. Your posture is slightly hunched over. You are shuffling more than walking. Your countenance shows concern. There is no fire in your eyes! You look defeated before you even have started. Anyone looking at you can probably tell you are going to struggle on that first set of targets.
What can you do? As I explained in my previous post “Going to the Confidence Well”, I am not a huge fan of promoting a confidence level higher than is warranted by your actual competence.
Going to the Confidence Well!
However, I strongly encourage a level of confidence that is justified by our practiced abilities. So, what do you do on those days when you just aren’t feeling in? Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot have a solution for us (I generally think of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman since she is the one I grew up with portraying the character, but you can visualize the one that is relevant to you!). Try adopting the “Wonder Woman Pose”:
Take a moment and take a few deep breaths. Then, adopt the pose: Stand tall with a broad stance, head up, shoulders back, chest out, hands on hips. Wear a strong, determined look on your face. Take a couple of more deep breaths while holding the pose. Try it – seriously! Don’t worry about looking silly. There is science behind this! You have probably heard of the brain-gut connection through the Vagus nerve. The Vagus system allows for two-way communications between the body and brain. What you are feeling and demonstrating outwardly physically impacts what you are thinking and feeling emotionally – and vice-versa. The Vagus system even includes linkages to our facial muscles. That is what gives us the ability to tell what someone else is feeling just by looking at their expression. You truly do wear your heart on your sleeve in addition to your posture and your facial expressions!
Remember, you can influence your mental state, including your confidence, by adjusting your physical state. It is a variation of the “fake-it-‘till-you-make-it” approach. However, we are not trying to manufacture confidence that goes beyond our competence, we are just trying to restore our confidence back to levels that are deserved by our practiced skill level!
For those that are interested in learning more about the Vagal system, I can recommend the following book to you: