Vanessa Van Edwards explains how people judge confidence by the physical space you occupy. Winning athletes adopt expansive postures with raised heads and open shoulders, while losers contract their bodies. To project confidence, maximize the distance between ear and shoulder, keep space between torso and arms, and maintain an open, expansive shape.
We very quickly decide how confident someone is based on how much space they're taking up. When we feel pride, when we win a race, when we're excited, we want to take up space in our environment, we feel confident. We want to be noticed. Researchers from University of British Columbia even found that winning athletes when they win a race, they take up space. They cheer, they pump their heads up, they tilt their head towards the sky. Losing athletes do the opposite. They take up as little space as possible. They roll their shoulders in. They tuck their chin to their chest. Sometimes they even crumple down into a fetal position. When people first see you in person or on video, they're very quickly trying to decide, do you look more like a winner or more like a loser? The problem is we often accidentally go into losing body language or defeat body language when we check our phone or we hunch over our computer and say, can you see me? Can you hear me? What I want you to make sure of is you're maximizing the distance between your ear and your shoulder, as well as I want you to try to keep space between your torso and your arms. That shows I feel confident I can gesture easily. I'm not tightly pinned to my sides or trying to protect myself. And if possible, try to keep an open body.
