The Strength Of Your Stance

The way you hold yourself signals to the world how confident you are in your ability to influence.

When speaking, in leading, and while influencing, there is a saying, “The strength of your stance shows the strength of your message.” A great example of this is, the person who is under pressure, they start squirming in their seat. You know the pressure is getting to them because you can see them squirm, and react in a physical way.

Controlling the way that you sit, stand, walk, and carry yourself will show to others, and yourself, the strength that you have within your message.

Movement plays a large part in nervousness. It’s the twitching of the hands, it’s the rubbing of the nose, and the scratching of the neck. When you display these characteristics of nervousness, it telegraphs a subconscious message of, “I’m not comfortable, I’m nervous, and I don’t have the authority that I wish I had.”

To control your stance, practice being still. You can still move, to pick up pens, to look people in the eye. But when you’re speaking, remain solid. If you’re going to move, have movement with purpose. When you move with purpose, you have strength in yourself, and you have strength in your message. People will pick up on this – they may not know that they’re picking up on it, but it will come through. There are a couple of ways in which you can practice this.

Firstly, reflect on how you felt. For example, after you’ve been in a meeting, after you’ve spoken to someone, reflect on what it is that you did, how you held yourself. Ask yourself, can I be stronger in the way that I stand, the way that I sit, and the way that I carry myself.

The second is to look at world leaders you see on the TV or on the news. People you trust and respect – it could be business leaders, CEOs of large companies that you admire – look at the way that they hold themselves, look at the way they speak, and the way they stand when addressing and delivering their point with influence. Copy what they do.

The strength of your stance shows the strength of your message. Have a strong stance and people will see you as someone with a strong message.

I’d love your thoughts on this, please leave a comment below in the comment section.

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