Name: Fake It Till You Make It | Tina Glenvik | TEDxGöteborg
Uploaded: 2024-12-11T02:23:58.000Z
Duration: 12 min 46 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Translator & Script Writer & Editor Van Rensburg  You know that person who, whenever they enter a room, everybody's eyes turn to?

A person who is insecure and nervous, and uncomfortable with the room, with the surroundings, with the people around them, who is uncomfortable in his or her own skin.

And you can tell just by looking at that person that they just want to get out of there.

That first person has what I call high status.

Now, I'm not talking about social economic status, like how much money you earn or which family you are born into, but high physical status.

The other person has low physical status.

I'm a performer, I'm a singer, but we are all performers one way or another.

Whenever we present ourselves, we are performing.

So you are performing at a business meeting, on a first date, at the coffee machine at work, or greeting and welcoming or saying hello to new acquaintances or old acquaintances here at the TEDx venue.

So, high status, low status, why should we care?

We should care because you do not only communicate high or low status to the people around you, you also communicate it to yourself.

So if you communicate being at ease, secure, you will believe that you are just that.

If you are nervous and stay in low status, the more nervous you will get.

I want you to greet your neighbor by just simply saying hello.

First, I want you to do this sitting comfortably in your chairs, both feet on the ground, hands on your knees, straight back, shoulders down, and move your head slowly.

Now, I'm going to teach you the flickering hello.

You say hello, and then you look down, and then just a quick glance back.

Some of you even started blushing because the body reacts.

We have a choice of which status we want to be in.

And I'm going to teach you or tell you three keys how to be in charge of your status.

A person with a low physical status protects vital areas of the body, such as the neck, the wrists, the belly below the rib cage, and the private parts.

Now, most people don't walk around like this.

But you might find leftovers, like with the knee.

I do this when I'm nervous, stressed, or just restless.

And even I appear safe and secure, this little motion says something else.

A person with high physical status has an open body and takes a lot of space.

When they want to show that they are in charge, they try to be as big as possible.

Think about the mating dances of the animals.

The animals have to be at the highest status possible when mating, and so do we.

We show the parts that we want to reveal in low status, like the wrists, the neck.

Some people want the focus to be somewhere else.

And to avoid any hesitation, you can simply point.

A nervous body, a stressed body, is high on adrenaline and does not only prepare for fight and flight, it also prepares for screaming.

And when screaming, it's very high-pitched, and it's very hard to talk like this, and does not really give you the effect that you want on the people around you, right?

Second, imagine that you are a big cello.

And in that big cello, your voice should resonate.

Put your hand on your chest and say, Do you feel the vibration?

When you have a voice and breath in control, you will believe that you are in control.

A person in low status is very rapid in the movements, and sometimes it's interrupted, and might not even finish their sentences.

A person in high physical status takes time.

They take long pauses, and won't rush through them.

They communicate that they and what they're about to say is worth waiting for.

When I started my career as a singer, I almost broke down before or even during a performance.

I did break down several times afterwards.

To my surprise, people came up to me, and they were surprised that I had a breakdown.

Subconsciously, I had been using these tools, and that made me interested in the subject.

I knew that no matter how nervous I was, I would be able to fake it.

And faking it many, many times gave me more confidence.

If you choose to use these tools, they will help you to feel safer in any performance, big or small.

So the next time you're doing a presentation, or meeting a new person or an old person in private or in a professional setting, remember to use an open body, a breath and voice in control, and remember to take your time.

These three tools can be excellent keys to change your presentation of yourself, your performance in yourself.

Because you still want to be yourself, and you should be yourself.