Harnessing your Boldest Self in Challenging Moments

By Anna Enright, DNP, PCNS-BC

Power poses anyone? 

I don’t know about you, but when I feel anxious, I feel small, unsure of myself and not confident at all.  This often happens to me when I’m public speaking. As an athlete, you may experience this when competing against others who have a better track record or more wins. Do you have strategies you use to bring in confidence in those moments? There is some evidence that striking a power pose can help.

In her book, Presence – Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenge, Cuddy (2018) claims that tweaking our body language can help change our mindset and bring our best selves to our biggest challenges. She describes powerless/contractive poses: slouching, arms tightly crossed, head held low versus powerful/expansive poses: standing up straight with arms beside our body like Wonder Woman or Superman, arms open or up high. People who use power postures tend to use fewer negative words, report less fear, and speak more positively (Cuddy, 2018). Here are some recommendations as to how to practice and when.

• Adopt a power pose and hold it to gain confidence before an athletic performance, presentation, or difficult conversation:

  • Hold a confident Wonder Woman or Superman pose (hands on hips) for 60 seconds.

  • Raise your arms in a victory pose and hold.

• When performing, be sure to:

  • Stand up straight

  • Keep your shoulders back and chest open

  • Maintain a slow and deep breath

  • Keep your chin up and level

  • Move around to energize yourself

  • Slow down and take your time

  • Relax the muscles in your body

• Use imagery: imagine a power pose. When it’s not possible to take up a power pose, picturing it can help.

  • Visualize being confident, grounded, and strong.

• Sitting

  • Sit erect with shoulders back, rather than slumped.

(Cuddy, 2018)

When repeated and combined, even small changes to how we speak, stand, and behave can significantly improve our confidence and degree of self-belief.  I have used empowering techniques like standing tall and imagining myself doing a great job when I'm public speaking. Visualizing someone I admire and bringing in the characteristics of that person as they are public speaking is another technique that has been useful to me.  

If feelings of being not good enough are limiting you, reduce the impact by adopting a powerful pose.  

Resources

Adapted from Positivepsychology.com

Cuddy (2018).  Presence – Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenge. 

TEDx Talk Cuddy (2012).  Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are.