How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety

by Ellen Hendriksen

Part of playing a role is looking the part. Arrange yourself in a powerful, confident posture, sitting or standing in a way you imagine someone open, strong, confident, and solid would present. This creates two feedback loops: one to yourself and one to others. Adopting a posture of confidence sends a message of confidence to your brain. And looking confident, whether you’re Brandon asking strangers in Manhattan for a sidewalk photo session or Aisha advocating for kids with autism, makes people treat you with respect. The phenomenon of power posing, pioneered by Dr. Amy Cuddy, was built on this principle. While researchers are still slugging it out on whether or not power posing “works” biologically by changing your cortisol and testosterone, it definitely changes your mindset, as power posing’s many adherents report. Indeed, you’re not pretending to feel powerful; you’re taking on the posture of someone who is powerful.