Have you ever experienced any of the below signs?

• You often shy away when it comes to public speaking and feel scared to meet new people.
• The girl/boy of your dreams just asked you for a movie but you let it go by making some excuse.
• You got a chance to perform live on stage and show your immense singing talent to the world around you but you did not turn up.
• You don’t attend the social gatherings and office parties to avoid people.
• Your Managing Director just flew from US to meet your team and you did not take any initiative to interact with him.

Well, all these are signs of “Shyness”, also known as “Social Phobia”.

Photo ambroochizafer, CC0 1.0

Shyness is something which isolates a person from the whole world and becomes a major hindrance in the path of Personality Development.

Here are 10 tips to overcome shyness & feel more confident:

1. Try To Make Eye Contact With People While Talking

This is the first step to overcome shyness. Always try to make an eye contact with the people you are talking to. It acts as a confidence booster. But, the eye contact should last only for few seconds; otherwise, it gives an awkward feeling to both, you and the person you are talking to.

2. Be A Good Listener

In order to be a confident speaker, you need to be a good listener first. It happens very often that you fail to listen carefully what others are saying and then it becomes very obvious that you don’t have the proper content to speak, so you prefer to keep quiet, in that case. It is very important to pay attention when others are talking so that you can put forth your points afterwards when your turn comes to speak.

3. Be More Calm And Relaxed

If you are in a relaxed and chirpy mood, you tend to act more lively. You feel like talking and mingling up with others when you are calm and relaxed. Do a couple of breathing exercises in your free time to feel relaxed and rejuvenated.

4. Start Talking With People And Express Yourself Well

Break that barrier and gel up. Don’t wait for others to approach. Go ahead and make new friends and don’t stop yourself to express more. When you start talking with more and more of new people, you start feeling more confident about yourself.

5. Always Be Presentable

When you look good and presentable, you feel confident from within. To be more confident, it is not needed to look like an eye candy, but yes it is important that you always look your best. Start grooming yourself, get a new haircut done, smell good and dress perfectly. These things add to your overall personality.

6. Say This To Yourself 10 Times In Front Of The Mirror– “People Like Me“

Having your evening coffee with a bunch of office colleagues, always change your mood. Who would not like to have a lot of friends with whom he/she can have a great fun time? When you know and feel that you are liked by the people in your surroundings, you become more expressive and lively. This would really help you a lot…….stand in front of a mirror and say this to yourself 10 times – “People like me”. Yes, people like you and they want to talk to you, have fun with them, so go ahead and enjoy your life.

7. Be Optimistic And Don’t Let Negative Thoughts Haunt You

Positivity can change your life completely. Always think positive and be optimistic. Flush out all your negative thoughts and don’t let them haunt you.

8. Smile While You Talk And Work On Your Body Language

A smile on your face can make any stranger a friend or an acquaintance. Smile while you talk, it boosts your confidence and gives a positive feeling to others whom you are talking to. Your body language adds a lot to your overall personality. A person with good body language appears more confident as compared to others.

9. Watch Others And Learn

Observe others whom you find smart and confident. Learn from them, the way they talk, behave and act. Watch their body language, hand movements and gestures. Watch the news channels and learn from the news readers and reporters how they talk and act smartly. It helps you a lot in changing the way you talk and behave.

10. Last But Not The Least “Practice”

“Practice makes a man perfect”. Until and unless you practice things, you can’t achieve the desired results. Keep working on your weaker areas and keep on doing the things which will boost your confidence and make you a confident speaker. Don’t give up fighting against shyness until you succeed in it.

No one is born perfect. You have to work on your weaker areas and emerge as a winner in your life. There are several people who are suffering from social phobia. The only way to overcome it is to fight against it. When you take your fear as a challenge, you definitely get over it. All you need to do is focus a little more in your life, rest everything will fall into place.