 Charisma isn’t as simple as personal charm – basic hygiene, proper language, right attitude, and strong sex appeal. Although, glamour is indeed a big part in enhancing that hidden charisma in you, there are other elements more essential to learn to be able to complete the power of charisma. Remember: Charisma is more than just physical attractiveness! Smile
Smiling is the easiest, most inexpensive, yet most refreshing gesture one can do without really exerting so much effort. Do you know that it only takes 14 muscles to smile, and 74 to frown? Imagine that! A charming, pleasant smile is a strong representation of a friendly and welcoming attitude towards another person. It is a receptive, nonverbal signal indirectly showing the willingness to communicate. When you smile to somebody, you’re demonstrating that you have noticed a person in a positive manner. The person, on the other hand, will consider it a compliment, will feel good, and will most likely smile back. Smiling doesn’t mean that you have to put on a phony face all the time or pretend that you are happy. However, doesn’t it really make you feel good when you see someone you know? Therefore, you show him something that doesn’t need words or other friendly actions – because a smile is enough. The human face sends out numbers of verbal and nonverbal signals, and the smile is one of these. It is actually the easiest and best way to show someone that you’ve noticed him. A smile indicates general approval towards the other person, and this will make him feel more open to talk to you. A smile has endless advantages: it brightens not just your day, but the other’s day too; it lightens the mood, especially during problems and worries; it makes you look young, friendly, sweet, and attractive. People tend to like those who smile more than those who frown or have no facial expression at all. It gives them guarantee that these people know how to see things lightly despite difficulties in life. And since a smile goes a long way, it is something that people cannot forget about you. They may not remember your name, but in the long run, they will surely see your smile in their minds, reminding them that you have brightened up their day even for a while. Hence, learn to smile at any given chances. People will easily like you for it. Developing That Charming Smile Since the mouth produces a smile, it comes with the involvement of the teeth, the lips, the tongue, and the gums. Therefore, you should consider good dental health care if you want your smile to be more than just sparkling, but to be healthy as well. Dental care includes proper and regular brushing of the teeth, proper flossing, breath-freshening, and dental check-ups. Make sure your teeth are always clean – free from plaque, tartar, and food residues. This way, when you smile to other people, they will quickly notice the warmth and glow it adds to your face, making you more attractive, and not just a blank, emotionless person. Although smiling doesn’t involve the odor of your breath, it is always safe to maintain the freshness and fragrance of it. Aside from brushing your teeth and tongue, use mouthwash to ensure that your breath smells like heaven. This will add, not just to the smile you are projecting, but to your over-all charisma as well. Aside from taking care of the body part that is most responsible for producing your smile, you should also pay attention to your diet. A healthy diet brings a healthy smile and fresh breath. Avoid snacking between meals and remember to brush and floss your teeth after every meal. If you must snack, make them healthy snacks like fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of junk foods. Apples, pears, celeries, carrots, and other crunchy foods are good suggestions. They will aid in enzyme production, and the natural chewing of the crunchy foods will stimulate the gums. Do not forget to drink plenty of water. Keep your mouth moist to avoid dryness. Remember that dry mouth is an indication of dental disease. Water stimulates the production of saliva and keeps it moist all of the time. In addition to this, you must avoid drinking soft drinks, soda, or carbonated beverages. Do you know that Americans consume gallons of soda pop a day? Most are loaded with sugar, which obviously leads to poor dental hygiene, diseases, and discolored teeth. Don’t be fooled even if the label of the can or bottle says “diet.” Even they have huge amounts of acids that are very harmful to the enamel of your teeth. And, if you think that only sodas are the culprit, think again! A recent study claims that all those popular sports drinks we buy may not be such a good idea after all. They may re-hydrate the body, but they can cause irreversible damage to the dental enamel. The study reports that fitness water, sports drinks, energy drinks, and other non-cola beverages increase the risk of damage by anywhere from 3 to 11 times! These drinks can never replace water, after all. Finally, your smile will be more appealing if you share it with others. Be it strangers or friends, it wouldn’t hurt if you give some to them. What’s the use of taking dental health care and eating a healthy diet if you won’t show that lovely smile to the world? So, smile! Help the world reduce its heavy burden by lightening other people’s mood. Body Language
Contrary to what many people believe that it is only through our mouths and tongues that we can communicate with other people, our body can send even more messages than words can. Research has shown that over half face-to-face conversations are nonverbal. “Body language,” as it is called, often communicates our feelings and attitudes before we speak, using bodily gestures. It helps to project our level of receptivity to others. Hence, if we like to be liked easily, then we have to watch out the nonverbal messages we send to other people. Body gestures can signify both negative and positive expressions. For example, frowning, crossed arms, and looking away can let other people realize that you are not interested in them at all. On the other hand, constant smiling and waving can mean friendly gestures to them and may make them notice you right away. Therefore, you have to know what possible messages other people can extract from your actions to avoid misunderstanding and eventually drawing away from one another. More than that, if you aim only to display positive expressions, you ought to know what these body gestures are, so that you can catch other people’s attention in a positive manner. To help you be aware and remember what these positive behaviors are, take N-O-T-E of it, as in Nod, Open arms, Touch, and Eye contact.
Body language does play a big role in communicating with other people. Even if gestures don’t directly convey a message, there will always be an idea the communicators might extract from them. This is the reason why body language is an essential element in developing charisma. To get other people to notice and like you, you’d have to know how your body should properly speak to other people. Learning to Speak the Language of the Body Aside from taking N-O-T-E (Nod, Open Arms, Touch, and Eye Contact) of the body language, here are other things to consider when communicating with other people nonverbally:
Good Sense Of Humor
Humor captures people’s attention and sets them at ease. It is very helpful when trying to lighten up the mood of a serious conversation. Most people find humor entertaining and fun; hence, it gradually becomes part of everyday conversation. However, there is a major difference between positive humor and negative humor. The latter involves rude attacks on people or their ideas, or focuses on areas of behavior that should not be discussed at the dinner table. It usually humiliates other people due to discrimination according to profession, race, age, and gender. Hence, this type of entertainment is morally wrong and can hurt the feelings of other. The more appropriate sense of humor to use as entertainment during conversations is the good one, in which it is loaded with pure silliness and can offend nobody. The primary purpose of such jokes is to break the ice that might be forming during serious talks and discussions, motivating other people to participate more with such activities. Louis Siegfried, a successful businessman of computers, says, “I think if you have fun, then you do well. We can’t tolerate people who aren’t enthusiastic.” Siegfried is known as practicing positive attitude while he takes his business seriously. He says, “Whether it’s meetings, memos, or policies, most business seems to operate on the premise that if you can possibly make something boring, make it extra boring. We operate under the rule that the best way to get people to do their job well is to get them to want to do their job, and the best way to do that is to make sure there’s little fun in what we do.” Building on that Positive Sense of Humor
Friendliness
It has been said that if love is blind, friendship is just not noticing. A friend is a single term we use to call our allies, supporters, sympathizers, advisers, brothers, playmates, classmates, listeners, and a lot more. This is because we reveal things to friends that we just wouldn’t say to anybody else. They give us encouragement, feedback, honest opinions, and advice. A friend is someone you can trust with confidential matters - you know that he won’t hold anything against you. A friend is someone who has the same interests as yours, and accepts, understands, and loves you for who you are. Friendship is the first thing we can offer to and accept from a person after having to meet him personally and know some things about him. By being friendly, it may mean “expressing a liking for one person,” “welcoming him into your life,” or “conveying a generally positive feeling towards him.” On the other hand, unfriendliness is the communication of negative feelings for another person through verbal and/or nonverbal methods. The message conveying this aura includes: “I’m not interested in you,” “You are not welcome,” “You irritate me,” and other distant and cold remarks. That is why charisma is about friendliness, and not the other way around; because if somebody feels this kind of atmosphere in you, then you’ll be stuck with just being noticed but not being liked. Making friends requires time, effort, commitment, a give-and-take-relationship, and a lot of tolerance for the many limitations and weaknesses we all have. Although most people are open to new friendships, life pursuits such as family and careers tend to become higher priority. Some people feel it takes too much time and effort to develop friendship. For one, you have to develop trust, as friendship requires mutual trust between two people; and trust takes a lot of time to develop. Also, being familiar with the other person, including knowing and practicing similar interests, does not take little time. When you are friendly, others would want to be with you. They would prefer to stay with you rather than with people who make them feel unwelcome. That is why friendliness is an essential element in developing charisma – because it is actually how people will know your intentions and desires. Being Friendly and Sociable
Confidence
Do you know that for eight in ten people, self-image matters more in how they rate their job performance than does their actual job performance? In fact, for most people studied, they claimed that the first step towards improving their job performance had nothing to do with the job itself, but with improving how they felt about themselves. Before we continue, let me ask you this: how good are you at your job (or at just anything that you’re doing)? Do you carry out tests or other evaluation measures to assess your performance at a certain task? Surely, there is an objective way to know whether you are good, excellent, or superb at what you do – whether you should consider yourself a success or not. Actually, people who do not think they are good at what they do – admitting to themselves that they are just the typical kind – are not capable of success and leadership. Some people think others are really better than them, and they do not change their opinion even when they are presented with indicators of success. Instead, their self-doubts overrule evidence to the contrary. Don’t wait for your next evaluation to change your view on yourself, because you are totally independent from facts; and feelings of confidence actually start with entertaining the thought that you are good enough. It’s true! Believing and having enough faith in yourself - that you have what it takes to carry out a task - is more important than the actual result of actually carrying out the task. Confidence, believing that you can make something happen, helps you become the better person you are thinking. A dancer from Springfield, Missouri named Ross can exemplify the importance of confidence. He dreamed of becoming part of Broadway, and eventually achieved his most desired wish. He has one explanation for his surprising success: “I have confidence. If you want to do it, you have to really want it and believe in it. You have to make it happen. You can’t sit back and hope that someone is going to help you along.” Enough confidence is an essential component of an attractive personality. Authorities like bosses, leaders, teachers, and the likes, prefer working with people who know and believe they can handle a certain task. Somehow, they would like that their work be reduced, rather than increased, so they tend to hire or appoint somebody who appears to be already knowledgeable enough. And with confidence, you will surely get that kind of impression. Making You More Confident about Yourself The problem with most unconfident people is that they feel inferior to others. Inferiority is a humiliating disbelief in one’s self. It comes, not from genetic factors, but from awful childhood experiences, in which the attempts of the child to express his growing personality were prevented by an over-bearing parent or guardian, by a sibling or a schoolmate, or by some humiliating physical defect. Inferiority starts at a stage in your life when your will was broken, and when your belief in yourself and in your ability was punctured. This results into emotional immaturity. On one hand, you are “less than the dust” in your own opinion. On the other hand, you compensate for this by exaggerated dreams, ideas, and ambitions quite beyond the scope of possibility. In consequence, you plan pretentious schemes in which you attain international recognition, rescue princesses from the hands of the villains, discover earth buried treasure, or become the conqueror of the world! Nothing less will do. You are like a baby unable to walk, but hopes to capture the moon…and to capture it right now! But as soon as you make efforts to achieve your goals in real life, your disbelief in yourself springs back on you and you are returned on your native distrust. You think to yourself, I can never be good! And your inferiority continues to battle with your superior thinking, with no tangible outcome apart from mental torture. Challenging as it is, this problem with inferiority can be dealt with if you trace it to its source and start a new lifestyle. Relax. Remember to feel what it’s like to be a child again. Recall the countless bullies you endured, or the scolds from your parents you open-mindedly accepted. Live it over again in your mind. Bring back to memory all the cruel remarks, humiliations, and embarrassments you never wanted to live with in the first place. Remember how these experiences were too much to bear - how your whole life became a protest against the inevitable defeat, with the result that your mental energies, instead of moving towards real achievement, were wrecked in a sea of worry and conflict because you thought you were a failure. Everyone appeared to be superior and better than you. You were “the little kid that nobody loves” and they became the monster in your eyes that you could never stand up to. Now, since you’re not a kid anymore and you understand how this attitude has stayed with you through life, you can gradually climb out of it. You do not need to be the maltreated kid whom nobody loves anymore. You realize now that you are indeed a valuable member of the society and many recognize your presence. You must control your mind and insist that the humiliating verdict passed on you by your childhood authorities and bullies is not true – that you must begin to accept yourself and believe in your own worth. Don’t prejudice your chance of success by pursuing impossible dreams and ambitions. Instead, start with small accomplishments and work your way up with them. Morbid as it may seem, you need to kill your inferior self, so the more confident you can show up and do what it has to do – build the best out of you. Being Yourself
Before continuing with this book, let me ask you something: Who are you? And please, don’t just give me a name, a profession, or family information. Ok, to help you answer my question, sit back, relax, take a deep breath, and ask yourself the following questions:
The above guide questions will help you realize how well you know yourself. And once you’ve known more, here’s another question: Are you being the “real” you at all times? No hesitations? No pretensions? Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, authors of the book Get Real, define the term real as “being true to yourself and being true to others; as possessing authenticity and sincerity.” They add, “Real people know their roots, their heritage, and their history. They remember where they came from and who brought them to the dance. And they retain that knowledge. They know their values, and they behave accordingly.” Being real, or being you, is important on all occasions, not just to other people, but also more to yourself. When you show people who you really are, they will believe that you are sincere. What they will hear is who you actually are. There will be no veil between your true nature and your perception of it. You are the same on the outside as on the inside. People don’t want to be deceived in any way. And if you are untrue, if you are not real, if you do something that is not you, then you are performing deceit. How can the acts of being unreal take your charisma away from you? First, there is lying. When other people find out that you are not telling the truth to them, everything you have ever said or done will be put into question. Another sign of being unreal is an act of hypocrisy. Don’t you feel terrible when someone is not being real with you? Finally, there is insincerity – when we are being fooled. How would you feel if you were given a praise that makes you feel great about yourself and then later on found out that it was full of hot air? Isn’t it annoying how other people show not their true self, but somebody you don’t even know? We know the feeling. Hence, we should not be seen doing such act. If you want to be liked, be yourself. Never be afraid, because the more you show the real you, the more reasons you’ll have for other people to like you. How Can You Be True to Yourself? Being yourself requires no other rules but to just stay whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever it is. If we list down things here that you should do with the purpose of aiming you to be yourself, following them wouldn’t make you yourself, but somebody we want you to be. Hence, just be natural. You may have limitations now, but opening your mind to further learning can help you improve yourself and may transform you into a better you. To help you motivate yourself to be just yourself and not like other people, here are some quotations cited by famous people who were definitely themselves, too: Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. - Raymond Hull Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. - Judy Garland We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves. - François Duc de La Rochefoucauld Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth. - Benjamin Disraeli Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep. - Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, 1750 If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise. - Johann von Goethe Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you? - Fanny Brice No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true. - Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter You were born an original. Don't die a copy. - John Mason It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not. - Andre Gide We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin. - André Berthiaume, Contretemps. |
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