Gradual exposure therapy

When you're nervous, your body tends to tighten up, leading to short stiff movements or fidgeting. By contrast, bigger hand movements while speaking convey confidence (they make you look and even feel more confident.)

An easy way to start exercising hand movements is using ...

Reframe success and failure. 

Reframe success as doing anything that improves you. So even when you are rejected, as long as you reflect on what went wrong and how you can do better when you're in that situation again, that's a win.

Showing your palms reveals that you have nothing to hide.

This will also make you feel more confident, by overriding our natural tendency to shrink and close off when nervous.

Echoing a question gives you time to catch up when you are feeling nervous. It's also an easy form of mirroring, which helps you connect with the other person. Because when you repeat someone's words back to them, it can help build feelings of likeability, trust and rappo...

• If you are in a situation where you can't stop thinking about how nervous you are that you cannot perform or connect, it can be better to share how you are feeling with a smile, rather than try to hide it.
• This can even make you more likable and make...