When we feel powerful, we make ourselves big; we stretch out; we take up space. We're basically opening up. However, if we feel insecure, we make themselves smaller. Maybe we're hunching, crossing our legs, wrapping our ankles or holding onto our arms.
Non-verbal language governs how other people think and feel about us. We make sweeping judgments and inferences from body language. Those judgments can predict meaningful life outcomes, such as who we hire or promote or who we ask out on a date.

The effects of our body language

When people win a physical competition, they naturally put their arms up in the V and their chin slightly lifted. They will do it even if they've never witnessed someone doing it. However, when they feel powerless, they do the opposite. They close up and make themselves small.  When we come in contact with other people, we complement the other's nonverbals. For example, if someone is powerful with us, we tend to make ourselves smaller.

Natural body language

We know that nonverbals govern how we think and feel about others. But body language also governs how we feel about ourselves. For example, we smile when we feel happy. Conversely,  when we're forced to smile, it makes us feel happy. When it comes to power, it also goes both ways. When you feel powerful, you're more likely to open up, but when you pretend to be powerful, you are more likely to feel powerful.

We are influenced by our own nonverbals

Powerful people tend to be more assertive and confident, more optimistic. They take more risks.  Studies showed that a two-minute power pose leads to hormonal changes that configure your brain to be either assertive, confident and comfortable, or stress-reactive. <ul><li>People with a high-power pose experienced a 20-percent increase in testosterone and a 25 percent decrease in cortisol, meaning they feel more assertive and less anxious.</li><li>Those who adopted a two-minute low-power pose had a 10-percent decrease in testosterone and a 15-percent increase in cortisol.</li></ul>

The two-minute power pose

Before you enter the next stressful evaluative situation, for two minutes, try a Power Pose. Configure your brain to cope the best in that situation. Get your testosterone up and your cortisol down.  Leave the situation feeling like you really got to say and show who you are.

Tiny tweaks can lead to big changes

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy argues that "power posing" -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident -- can boost feelings of confidence, and might have an impact on our chances for success. (Note: Some of the findings presented in this talk have been referenced in an ongoing debate among social scientists about robustness and reproducibility. Read Amy Cuddy's response here: http://ideas.ted.com/inside-the-debate-about-power-posing-a-q-a-with-amy-cuddy/) Get TED Talks recommended just for you! Learn more at https://www.ted.com/signup. The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Follow TED on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/TED

Stashed ideas

Your body language may shape who you are | Amy Cuddy

<ul><li>Don’t fall into the trap of trying to cover everything in a single talk. Instead, convey one big idea that leverages your personal experience.</li><li>A big idea can take an audience on a journey that alters the way they view the world. You should be able to define your idea as a throughline that is 15 words or fewer. Essentially, what is the core point of your talk?</li><li>Think about the audience, their context, and why your problem matters to them. As a tip, choose one person that you like and assume you are presenting the talk to them.</li></ul>

Convey One Big Idea

Script the opening minute and the closing lines. These are the most important parts of the talk. Use good images and stories to ignite curiosity and reflection. How people remember something is largely influenced by how it ends.

Open and Close Strong

Avoid sales pitches or talks that focus on what your organization does.For the visuals, No slides = better than bad slides. For each slide, convey just one idea and remember that less is more. For photos, have them take up the entire slide. Use only one typeface and 3 fonts throughout the presentation. Avoid bullets, italics, and underlines.

Bad Talk And Bad Visuals

Rehearsals help shape the talk. Ask for advice on clarity, tone, variety, and examples.Structure: One potential structure for your talk: introduction, context, main concepts, practical applications, conclusion.

The Shape Of The Talk

<ul><li>When you build trust and connection with your audience, your idea will resonate. To do so, consider the following tactics.</li><li>Make eye contact as you walk confidently onto the stage.</li><li>Show vulnerability.</li><li>Drop the ego – consider being self-deprecating.</li></ul>

Build Trust and Connection

Our minds co-evolved with storytelling, a byproduct of fire; elders were often the best storytellers that helped us imagine, dream, and understand the minds of others. Stories are easy to follow, and they give us the ability to understand complex ideas and understand imagined realities. Adding stories to your public speaking toolkit will enhance your effectiveness.

Tell Stories

<ul><li>With whatever you set out to explain, you need to incite curiosity. Make the audience care. You also should be incremental with new concepts. </li><li>Don’t confuse everyone with too many concepts. Use metaphors to help people understand. </li><li>Finally, show people drafts of your talk to avoid the curse of knowledge – assuming that other people have the same context as you.</li></ul>

Explanation

Enhance your persuasion by offering a counterintuitive idea that convinces the audience that their worldview isn’t exactly right. If you can effectively prime people, add humour, and leverage anecdotes, you will increase your chances of success.

Persuasion

While there are many time-tested principles of public speaking, don’t be afraid to do things differently. Show your unique style and character. Challenge the norms. At the very least, be interesting. It also helps to believe in what you are talking about.

Do Things Differently

You have three options: write out a full script, write out a structure, or go unscripted.With a script, it’s sometimes difficult to translate written words into a talk. You also don’t want to sound too rehearsed, so if you go with a script, you need to fully master your memory of the talk so that you can add your character back in.Whereas scripts can make every word count, unscripted talks can be half-baked and rambling if they don’t have sufficient preparation. With unscripted talks, it can be helpful to have transition steps or a clear map of the journey that you can follow.

Script Vs Unscripted Vs Loosely Scripted

Have a mantra to keep you focused on why your talk counts, “This idea matters.” Five minutes before your talk, breathe, do push-ups, and drink water. Remember the power of vulnerability. If you screw up, say, “Oops, sorry, a little nervous here.” Look at the audience for sympathetic and encouraging faces. And finally, remember that it’s not about you, it’s about your idea.

It's Just Your Idea, Not You Personally

Wear something that makes you feel good, and rehearse your talk in that clothing. Ensure it is comfortable and you feel confident wearing it.

What To Wear

Zoom out to the vision of your talk. Show the possibilities that your idea unlocks. Have a clear call to action to help people engage with your idea or pay it forward. Paint a vision of what the world looks like when the idea spreads.

Ending Your Ted Talk

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A must-read insider’s guide to creating unforgettable speeches and changing people's minds. Done right, a talk can electrify a room and transform an audience’s worldview; it can be more powerful than anything in written form. This “invaluable guide” (Publishers Weekly) explains how the miracle of powerful public speaking is achieved, and equips you to give it your best shot. There is no set formula, but there are tools that can empower any speaker. Since taking over TED in 2001, Chris Anderson has worked with all the TED speakers who have inspired us the most, and here he shares insights from such favorites as Sir Ken Robinson, Salman Khan, Monica Lewinsky, and more— everything from how to craft your talk’s content to how you can be most effective on stage.

TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

"It's perhaps easier now than ever before to make a good living. It's perhaps harder than ever before to stay calm, to be free of career anxiety."

A snob is anybody who takes a small part of you and uses that to come to a complete vision of who you are. And the dominant type of snobbery that exists nowadays is job snobbery. You encounter it within minutes at a party when you get asked, "What do you do?" Depending on your answer, they decide how much attention you deserve from their part.

Job Snobbery

Never before have expectations been so high about what human beings can achieve with their lifespan.&nbsp;We're told, from many sources, that anyone can achieve anything.

Overwhelming Career Expectations

A meritocratic society is one in which, if you've got talent and energy, and skill, you will get to the top, nothing should hold you back. The problem is, if you believe in this system, you'll also believe in a society where those who deserve to get to the bottom also get to the bottom and stay there. So, your position in life comes to seem not accidental but merited and deserved. And that makes failure seem much more crushing.

Failure In The Meritocratic Society 

"We are the first society to be living in a world where we don't worship anything other than ourselves. We think very highly of ourselves, and so we should; we've put people on the Moon, done all sorts of extraordinary things. And so we tend to worship ourselves. Our heroes are human heroes. That's a very new situation."

You can't have it all. So any vision of success has to admit what it's losing out on, where the element of loss is. And the thing about a successful life is that a lot of the time, our ideas of what it would mean to live successfully are not our own.

You Can't Be Successful At Everything

"When we think about failing in life, when we think about failure, one of the reasons why we fear failing is not just a loss of income, a loss of status. What we fear is the judgment and ridicule of others."

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Your body language may shape who you are | Amy Cuddy

TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

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A kinder, gentler philosophy of success | Alain de Botton - YouTube

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

#tedtalk

IDEAS ABOUT #tedtalk

Your body language may shape who you are | Amy Cuddy

TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

It's time to

READ

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A PRO!

A kinder, gentler philosophy of success | Alain de Botton - YouTube

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career