How To Speak With Confidence

In everyday life, speaking seems like a normal thing. We chit and chat and blabber away. When it comes to formal speech or talking to the authorities regarding an important matter, going for an interview or even speaking to someone you don't know, many people face this problem of speaking confidently.

What is speaking confidently? Is it the ability to sound snobbish and powerful? Absolutely not. Making yourself sound confident is a total different meaning than that. My theory is that you don't have to be arrogant or too proud of yourself in order to be confident. They key to confidence is being happy with who you are, what you have and accepting yourself. With that self- acceptance you are able to interact with the outside world, with people without feeling too low of yourself.

In order to sound confident when speaking to the authorities or going for an interview, you must PLAN what you want to say and the possibilities of what they might ask you. To be honest, the planning might not be much but the fact that your mind is telling yourself " I am prepared" is going to make you a lot more confident.

Besides that, speak in a language or in a way that you are comfortable with. If you don't know the meaning of a certain word too well, don't use it. Why pretend? Speak using the words that don't seem foreign to you and this will make you feel confident naturally.

When speaking to someone important for instance the authorities or the head of department, you must have an element of respect in your tone and watch your words carefully. Don't be scared  to talk to them because they are normal humans too and what's wrong talking to them if you have an important message to convey. Try speaking to them like how you speak to a friend except with proper words and proper manners.

Finally, stay calm and never panic if you ever encounter a difficult moment answering something they asked you. Sometimes they might ask you something unpredictable.  If you really have no idea then just tell them what you know. If there's no way you have an answer to that, just say " Sorry sir but I really have no idea."

Funny fact: During one of my interviews, they asked me a really really technical question and when I asked them to repeat (the way of responding to a difficult question so have time to think) I still had no idea. Finally I said " I'm sorry but I don't remember learning that in school" and the serious interviewers laughed out loud. Then I included " If I'm given a chance to obtain this scholarship, I am willing to learn more." And they nodded and smiled. 

Conclusion: Its not good to sound "smart" all the time especially with people who are obviously more experienced than you. They might ask questions to test your honesty and integrity and that may have been a trick question. Nevertheless, confidence will always save you from any situation and it may turn out funny after all.