Eye Contact Means Confidence
In life, many different circumstances help us to develop our self-confidence.
How we dress and how we look to other people is very important.
If we know we look good we stand up straighter and smile more.
If we know that the outfit we are wearing suits not only our colouring but our body shape and is suitable for the occasion then that comes over to the people we meet.
Only seven per cent of a person's judgement of you is based on what you say to them.
The rest of their judgement is based on your appearance and body language which includes eye contact.
One of the most obvious signs of a lack of self-confidence is the inability to be able to look people in the eye for long periods when talking to them.
Eye contact reveals a lot about you including your honesty or hostility or your enthusiasm or disinterest.
If you can't look people in the eye, you appear to be underconfident, people can think you are concealing something or that you are just not interested in them and what they are saying.
Anyone can improve their eye contact through practice.
The best place to start is with friends and family.
If you have children, notice how their attention increases if you read them a story with occasional eye contact as opposed to no eye contact.
However, be careful not to develop an unrelenting stare since this sort of eye contact can conveys arrogance or hostility.
Better to try and aim for a balance between zero and constant eye contact.
This you can do by briefly alternating periods of eye-to-eye contact with shifting your gaze.
If you find yourself in a situation where you need to speak to more than one person at a time, you must remember to make contact and connect with each individual person in turn through separate eye contact.
Larger groups can be more tricky but by working your way through different parts of the audience with direct eye contact it's amazing how much more attentive your audience will be and how much more respect and credibility you will gain.
Eyes can talk, smile and express all sorts of emotions so remember to use them to their best advantage.
How we dress and how we look to other people is very important.
If we know we look good we stand up straighter and smile more.
If we know that the outfit we are wearing suits not only our colouring but our body shape and is suitable for the occasion then that comes over to the people we meet.
Only seven per cent of a person's judgement of you is based on what you say to them.
The rest of their judgement is based on your appearance and body language which includes eye contact.
One of the most obvious signs of a lack of self-confidence is the inability to be able to look people in the eye for long periods when talking to them.
Eye contact reveals a lot about you including your honesty or hostility or your enthusiasm or disinterest.
If you can't look people in the eye, you appear to be underconfident, people can think you are concealing something or that you are just not interested in them and what they are saying.
Anyone can improve their eye contact through practice.
The best place to start is with friends and family.
If you have children, notice how their attention increases if you read them a story with occasional eye contact as opposed to no eye contact.
However, be careful not to develop an unrelenting stare since this sort of eye contact can conveys arrogance or hostility.
Better to try and aim for a balance between zero and constant eye contact.
This you can do by briefly alternating periods of eye-to-eye contact with shifting your gaze.
If you find yourself in a situation where you need to speak to more than one person at a time, you must remember to make contact and connect with each individual person in turn through separate eye contact.
Larger groups can be more tricky but by working your way through different parts of the audience with direct eye contact it's amazing how much more attentive your audience will be and how much more respect and credibility you will gain.
Eyes can talk, smile and express all sorts of emotions so remember to use them to their best advantage.