Books
Outwork Book Club on “Presence”
Amy Cuddy discusses the power of presence to bring our best self forward at any time
Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk on power posing is still the most viewed Ted talk of all time. In her talk, she presents ideas of power and influence that are simply game-changing.
We primarily study how the mind can influence the body, thus affecting behavior. What if the body can also influence the mind? Cuddy’s definition of presence will forever shape how you think about the mind-body connection and its impact on your personal and professional life.
This book will forever shape your perception of what you can do to be successful. Get a copy of the book using this link on Amazon.
Main Idea: What is Presence?
The underlying principle behind Cuddy’s ideas and how they can help to improve and influence your life is the state of being that defines what it means to be present.
“Presence is the state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values, and potential.” — Amy Cuddy
Summary
In other words, it is always bringing your best self forward. This version of yourself is authentic and created through deep work when we analyze our confidence, comfort level, passionate enthusiasm, and self-assured enthusiasm.
When studying entrepreneurs, these elements help predict a person’s drive, willingness to work hard, initiative, persistence in the face of obstacles, enhanced mental activity, creativity, and the ability to identify promising opportunities and novel ideas.
These elements are good predictors of someone authentic, whereas an inauthentic person will struggle to present all the elements at once. Their body language and facial expressions will contradict their words.
Cuddy talks of the Synchronous Self as the key to being present. It is when our speech, facial expressions, postures, and movement align. They synchronize and focus. Presence manifests as resonant synchrony. It is authentic.
Not surprisingly, before you can indeed be present, you must first know yourself, which according to Cuddy, is:
- Multi-faceted, not singular.
- Expressed through thoughts, feelings, values, and behaviors.
- Dynamic and flexible, not static and rigid.
This means that a person’s self is ever-changing and changeable.
“Physical and psychological adversity shapes us. Our challenges give us insights and experiences that only we have had. “— Amy Cuddy
In other words, we become stronger by living a hard life. Words like grit, growth mindset, perseverance, and resilience all resonate with me in this regard. That is why I am a strong advocate of doing hard things and being very cautious of those things that make us comfortable. We must believe in our own story by being our most prominent advocate.
“Your boldest self emerges through the experience of having full access to your values, traits, and strengths and knowing that you can autonomously and sincerely express them through your actions and interactions. That is what it means to believe in your own story.” — Amy Cuddy
The image of yourself in your mind is incredibly powerful. You have to bring your best self forward to be present. Create a solid identity, one that is authentic, that you crafted and believe in. Then, express that version of yourself every day if you truly want to make an impact.
How to Take Action
1. Becoming Powerful Will Give You More Power.
When deciding to do something, we will either look at the benefits of the action or the costs of the action. When we feel more powerful, we will tend to look at the benefits. Power makes us approach. Powerlessness makes us avoid.
This means a lot to me. This is why confident people tend to do better. At a minimum, they attempt to do more. Taking action is the most important thing one can do when seeking success, and personal power is the catalyst for that action.
2. Cultivate Personal Power First, Then Social Power.
Social power is characterized by the ability to exert influence or control over others, whereas personal power is characterized by the freedom from the dominance of others. Both types of power are essential to understand, and having both is ideal.
However, personal power is the key to having presence — without it, we will not be in command of our most precious and authentic inner resources. Personal power gives us the ability to act on our beliefs, attitudes, and values.
When we possess personal power, we will always put forth our boldest, most sincere selves, regardless of the outcome. It makes us present.
3. Prime Yourself to Be Powerful.
Recall a moment in your life when you felt personally powerful. A time when you felt in control of your psychological state — the confidence to act based on your boldest, most sincere self, with the sense that your actions would be effective. Take a few minutes to remember and reflect on that experience.
That is priming: when your psychological state is infused with feelings of confidence and strength. You put yourself into a powerful mental state and use that state to influence your current situation.
4. Take Action and Build Confidence.
When we begin doing things, we develop a sense of ability.
“Pleasure built upon pleasure, the certainty of my ability amplifying with each new trial.” — Amy Cuddy
Sometimes our minds can work against us, but we can combat that experience by taking action. There is no absolute division between the mind and body. Sometimes we have to decide to do something to do it.
The use of affirmations can give us a boost of confidence at the moment that decisions are made.
- “Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.”
- “Where our bodies lead, our minds and emotions will follow.”
I find it interesting that these affirmations contradict the mind over matter mentality. The power of belief in this sense lies in doing and not self-talk. We do first, then build confidence later. The tools we need to become present are built into our biology.
“How you carry yourself- your facial expressions, your postures, your breathing- all clearly affect the way you think, feel, and behave. “— Amy Cuddy
5. The Why and How of Power Posing.
The way you carry yourself is key to unlocking personal power.
Power poses are expansive and open, take up space with limbs far away from the body, increase one’s sense of personal power, boost confidence and bring forth your abilities, courage, and skills. Power posing, according to Cuddy, makes you more present because of the following elements:
- Feeling: expanding your body language — through posture, movement, and speech- makes you feel more confident and powerful, less anxious and self-absorbed, and generally more positive.
- Thinking: expanding your body causes you to think about yourself positively andtrust in that self-concept. It also clears your head, making space for creativity, cognitive persistence, and abstract thinking.
- Acting: expanding your body frees you to approach, act, and persist.
- Body: expanding your body physiologically prepares you to be present, overrides your instinct to fight or flee, and allows you to be grounded, open, and engaged.
- Pain: expanding your body toughens you to physical pain.
- Performance: high power poses increase nonverbal presence. People who were present were less focused on how others might be judging or threatening them, which reduces anxiety and increases performance.
Your body shapes your mind. Your mind shapes your behavior. And your behavior shapes your future. — Amy Cuddy
How to Power Pose
Take up as much space as you comfortably can in the moments preceding a challenge. This will translate as a nonverbal signal that you are powerful, which means you will bring your boldest, most authentic self to the challenge.
- Prepare by power posing first thing in the morning. Embrace the challenge that the day presents.
- Take advantage of personal spaces. Pose big in those spaces and look as dominant as you can.
- Walk around in waiting rooms — don’t sit or hunch over your phone.
- Strike a pose mentally if it is your only option. It works for those people unable to do so physically.
- If you can, arrive before everyone else and take ownership of the space. Make it “yours” so whoever comes after you come into “your” space.
- Take up space: Be big and exhibit those dominant traits that translate to personal power.
A Note on Posture
There was a study in the book that seemed to be added as an afterthought (consisting of only three pages), but I found it immensely interesting.
Hunching over your phone for hours at a time is not only damaging to our posture, but it is also translating to a loss of power.
It makes sense when you think about it. Power posing — a physical action increases power. In contrast, hours hunched over looking at a tiny phone screen will naturally sap a person of their power.
“As the devices get smaller, not only does assertiveness (leading immediately or eventually to pain and headache)- in exactly the same proportions. It’s a perfect (and logical) relationship: smaller device, hunch more to use it, decrease assertiveness, increase neck loading, increase pain and headache.” — quote from study in the book
Hunching over a screen decreases assertiveness. Assertiveness is the surest of ways to measure power because of its central psycho-behavioral component.
If you are interested in getting the book, you can use this link to Amazon. It is an affiliate link, meaning I get a portion of what you pay at no extra cost. I appreciate the support and wish you the best in your continued pursuit of high performance!
