A couple of years ago, I was at the dog park with my pit bull (whom I miss very much!). While we were there, I noticed something funny.
The minute a dog walks into the dog park, there’s a whole assessment that goes on.
Some dogs walk in tall, with their chests out and their tails up high. Other dogs walk in, all shy and retiring, with their tails between their legs.
Now, I’m no dog behavioral psychologist, and I couldn’t tell you in detail what all that posturing means. But it caught my attention.
Because I’ve seen similar behavior in humans.
When different people walk into a business meeting of some kind, they walk in with all different degrees of assurance. And I’m here to tell you, that first impression really sets the tone for the rest of their performance in the group!
In business, if you don’t believe in yourself first, if you don’t have that little bit of confidence it takes to put yourself out there, to offer a product with a price tag on it, to give a speech, or to start filming your ideas and putting them online… if you don’t have that confidence first, then how is anyone else going to believe in you?
You need to believe in yourself first. You need to walk into that conference or that meeting with your chest out and your head held high.
(Want to read more about how working on your mindset unblocks your business? I discuss that in this post with my mindset mentor, Denise Duffield-Thomas!)
Now, I don’t particularly like the phrase “Fake it till you make it.” There’s a bit of a negative connotation associated with that particular wording. But I DO think you have to believe in yourself before you can ask anyone else to believe in you.
So if you’re walking into the “dog park” – a.k.a., a conference, or a webinar, or a stage, or a business meeting of any kind – can you give yourself a little pep talk before you come in the room? Can you take a few deep breaths and make sure you go in and own it?
Because if you do, the rest of the “dogs” at the “dog park” will respect you a lot more for it.
