"I want to be seen as confident...what does it take to project confidence even when I'm not 100% feeling it? Do I have to just fake it 'til I make it like people say?"

That has to be in the top 3 questions I get from lawyers and other professionals... in the presentation skills 'confessional.'

It's not surprising. Watching yourself on video, with a small group of your colleagues, is bound to bring up your most pressing questions! It's a good thing.

I disagree wholeheartedly that the solution is faking it.

Coming across as CONFIDENT can become your default - If you adopt a few good speech habits.

Here are a few speech habits that make you sound confident:

• Volume = confidence to some degree. Be loud enough to be heard easily by everyone.

• Warm, conversational tone = confident and easy to connect with

• Avoid the worst filler phrases: 'kind of' and 'sort of'

• Ditch the monotone = perceived as disengaged or don't care

In the spirit of taking 5 minutes per day to improve your speaking skills (see yesterday's post)...Pick one thing on the list above and improve it during ONE call or meeting every day this week. This month?

I'm curious, which speech habit do you think makes the most difference in coming across as confident?