“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”- Theodore Roosevelt
The word confidence, in the simplest of words, means having the belief or faith in something. When we talk about self -confidence, we basically are referring to our self- efficacy. It is the belief that an individual has about himself/ herself, that they can perform a certain task efficiently. Come to think of it, being confident and having a high self -efficacy and positive self -esteem is highly important in order to live a fully satisfying life. If you are a confident individual and ooze positive energy about yourself, it makes others to evaluate you in a favourable manner. You are more likely to be judged and evaluated better if you see yourself in a positive manner.
Think about any one episode of your life in which you were highly nervous and anxious. It could be an impromptu speech, a dance performance or an interview. Coming to the interviews, we all know how much anxiety an interview or an interactive session (which pretty much decides your future) can evoke. Imagine yourself sitting outside the IO’s room or the Conference Room. Your feelings are literally at the extremes. You either feel numb, or you go through mixed emotions. You’ll end up feeling nervous, excited, anxious, scared, joyous, all at the same time. Sitting outside the interview room, it’ll probably hit you that this is the moment that you’ve waited for so long. You wouldn’t really want all the anxiety and the apprehension to just ruin it all for you, would you?
A confident candidate is any day likely to do better than a candidate who is unsure of himself/herself. From the moment you walk into the Interview Room, each fibre of your body should scream that you are confident and sure of yourself. Don’t forget that it’s one of the Officer Like Qualities (OLQs). You may be well versed with the current affairs, you might be very knowledgeable and you might handle stress situations very nicely as well, but if you aren’t confident of yourself will you be able to do justice to all the qualities that you have? No.
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Therefore, I’m suggesting some tricks that you can use while you wait for your interview to start!
- Stop Thinking Too Much.
It’s finally come down to the moment that every Defence Aspirant waits for, your interview, which gives you the chance to express yourself and to convince the authorities that yes “I have it in me”. So just stop over thinking. One of the biggest reasons why people fail to feel and be confident is their fear of thinking of the ‘what ifs’. Don’t make the situation more complicated for yourself by dwelling in such thoughts. - Work on your Non-Verbal Communication.
93% of the communication between humans occurs through means of non -verbal communication. Your words only comprise of 7% of the total communication. So I hope you realise how important it is to focus and to work on your gestures and postures. From the moment you enter the room, till the time you move out of the door, The IO is observing your body language. There should be congruence between what you say and what your body says. - Think happy thoughts.
While you are sitting outside and waiting for your interview to start think about the happy moments and memories that you have about yourself and your loved ones. It could be a day out with your family, a trip with your friends, a conversation with your teacher or time spent with your pet. Anything. Think about whatever makes you happy. In doing so, the level of your stress hormones decreases and you start to better and positive. - Superman Pose.
Research says that standing in a superman pose before doing anything significant and important helps you feel better and confident about yourself. The superman pose causes a decrease in cortisol level of 25%. So 10 minutes before your interview starts, go somewhere private and for 2 minutes stand in the superman pose. Be self-assured.
- Go back to the last time you felt confident.
Think of the last event in your life in which you felt really confident about yourself. Mentally go back to that event and try to recall your emotions and feelings at that point of time. Try to remember how much relieved and happy you were after the completion of that particular task. Try to feel the same emotions and feelings and you’ll end up becoming more confident. - Rehearse Mentally.
Just go through major points that you have to remember during your interview and try to just scan through all the pointers that you had prepared for yourself. You should be clear about each word that you had written in your Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ), so just rehearse whatever you had written and any other major fact and detail that you have to remember. - Think of nice things that people have said about you.
Try to think of all the positive things that your friends, family, colleagues and your teachers have said about you. It’s the best way to remind yourself that you are capable of doing good and great things in life. You will instantly feel positive and confident about yourself. - Enjoy the moment!
You are about to give probably the most important interview of your life. You’ve worked hard, you’ve dreamt about it and you’re so close to living your dream. So just live in the moment. Breathe in and breathe out. Later in life this’ll be one of your fondest memories, provided you believe in yourself and follow the above tricks!
Also Read:
- Ways to Generate Confidence
- Tips for Building Self-Confidence Instantly
- Confidence And Alertness Is The Mantra To Clear SSB
