Did you know that your body language and nonverbal communication convey 80-90% of the weight when you’re interacting with another person?

A big part of how you are perceived, even though you may not realize it, is your posture. 

Having great posture is like having a secret weapon that no one can quite place their finger on, but everyone knows it’s there. This is why it’s often very easy to spot a dancer in a crowd – dancers train their whole lives to practice excellent posture, and they carry this training with them wherever they go.

Luckily, there are a few key posture adjustments you can make to project an aura of confidence, and even trick your brain into feeling self-assured. One of my favorite ones to talk about is inhabiting “high status positions.”

As an actor, much of how performance is perceived by the audience is through the actor’s physical portrayal of that character. In the instructional book, “A Body Prepares: A Complete Guide To Physical Warm Up Exercises For Performers,” Jake Urry, the author, introduces the idea of “archetypes” – which are conventions for actors to easily access specific physical, vocal and emotional states to portray a certain character. By exhibiting qualities of certain archetypes, purely on the physical level, the actor immediately is able to assume qualities that character would have.

For example, when an actor is portraying a warrior, he or she can inhabit common movements and behaviors that we as a society associate with this archetype, including commanding tone of voice and moving with a sense of purpose and righteousness.

On the contrary, when an actor is portraying a crone-type of character, different physical behaviors can be used. The obvious choice is a to hunch your back and use a croaky-type voice (think “Wicked Witch of the West”).

The point of these archetypes is for actors to use them as a starting point in character development, with the key phrase being “starting point.” Ideally, each character takes on a life of its own, that you create and refine into something unique.

The same can be said about confidence. There’s no one-size-fits-all model for how to look and feel confident. Instead, it’s an act of personal development, but sometimes starting by practicing confidence behaviors can help to jump-start the discovery process.

So, to convey confidence in your own posture, make like a royal and focus on lifting your sternum, which instantly makes you look more confident. Your sternum is located in the middle of your chest and connects your upper ribs. An open, upright posture conveys confidence, authority, and high status.

Another tactic that you may have heard of if you have ever studied dance or practiced Pilates is the “zip-up” method: Starting at the area right below your belly button, imagine zipping up a form fitting jacket, all the way up to under your chin. Go through the motion and watch how your posture experiences a subtle, yet significant shift. This is a great exercise to use right before entering into a high-pressure scenario, like an interview, a presentation, an audition, or even a first date, to instantly calm the body and project confidence.

How to Practice Confidence Postures

The easiest way to start being aware of your posture, and to start addressing any confidence-undermining behaviors is to understand the idea of open versus closed postures.

A “closed posture” is any posture that makes you look smaller. Common examples are: crossing your arms, crossing your legs, hunching your shoulders, or leaning over and placing hands/elbows on a nearby desk or table.

An “open posture” is any posture that makes you look bigger – that helps you take up more space.

Positive, open posture makes you appear trustworthy, easy, confident – before you even open your mouth!

So start being aware of your posturing throughout the day – when do you exhibit closed postures? When do you use open postures? Make a conscious effort to correct one consistent posture in your life. For example: “Any time I sit down in meetings, I will sit with my shoulders back, and head up.”

If you’re interested in learning more about using posture and other gestures to improve your speaking effectiveness and presence, check out this article, 20 Hand Gestures You Should Be Using, by Vanessa Van Edwards, head behavioral researcher at Science of People.

Looking confident is all a matter of consciously adjusting the way you speak, stand, gesture and present yourself. Jumpstart YOUR confidence with this free download: 10 Ways to Look More Confident in 30 Seconds of Less!