Turning Introversion into Confidence

What are introverts like? An introvert is someone who likes to think and likes to be alone. They are usually not people who are active in communicating or eager to become a public speaker. In short, things associated with extroverts are simply not their type. For example, they do not like crowded places; when they are in a crowd they tend to avoid it, or when their friends are chatting they are instead left confused and prefer to stay quiet on their own.

Clinical psychologist Dr Josh Klapow, Ph.D., says that introversion is a tendency in how people face the world or their daily lives. If you are an introvert who occasionally shows extrovert traits in public, it may happen because of social needs, Klapow explains. “Because we live in an environment where visible interaction is valued more and regarded as a certain norm. So introverts often try to be more extroverted in the workplace, in social situations and in relationships so that they can be better accepted by the people around them,” said Klapow.

They usually prefer to be alone, reading books and listening to songs, rather than being in a crowded place. This is an obstacle for introverts, namely that speaking or communicating with them is certainly very difficult. They are usually not confident when communicating with people they have just met. As a result, they usually speak without looking at the person they are talking to.

When an introvert is asked to perform for the first time, they usually experience severe panic. They usually get cold sweats, goosebumps on their legs, stammer, and everything they have memorised seems to disappear. This is quite normal, because when they want to speak they usually need to think very hard. Therefore, introversion can be changed as long as one has a very strong intention and determination. If it truly cannot be changed, at least the introversion can be reduced.

Here are 5 tips for turning an introvert into a confident person. First, confidence can be trained. So if you lack the courage to speak in front of people, what you must do is train yourself to be braver and more confident. Some say that successful people are usually more confident and able to perform. Why must we be confident? Because if we are not confident when meeting clients or work partners, they will certainly not trust us. What they see is not only our appearance, but also how we communicate. At first it is indeed uncomfortable and you have to force yourself, but the more often you do it, the more it becomes a habit that makes us more active in socialising by meeting many people, which can certainly change our lives for the better.

Second, force yourself to mingle with many people even if it is uncomfortable. For example, if you want to meet a partner or friend, the habit of staying silent in the past must start to change by beginning to communicate and beginning to socialise. That way we can catch their frequency and the language they use. Do not let it happen that when they ask a question we answer curtly with “yes” or “okay”. So we must force ourselves to communicate, because the more often we do it, the more confident we will become.

Third, learn communication techniques. These techniques can be taken from books, seminars, workshops, and so on. We can look for books about public speaking, attend workshops on communication, etc. In short, a mindset and mental strength can be gained by communicating often and speaking in public often. Everyone surely has to learn; nobody is born already successful and skilled at communicating.

Fourth, 10,000 hours of experience. Make sure that we, who lack confidence and overthink when communicating, trust that there is something called flight hours. It is like when we are learning something that is initially difficult, but once we have done it often it eventually becomes much easier. The same goes for communication; we should learn that more than 70% of people are afraid of public speaking. So however great they are, they still hesitate to speak in public. However, once you have passed up to 10,000 hours of experience, trust that when speaking about anything in public you can already let go of your notes. The way to become more confident and better at communicating is to increase your desire to appear confident and to be better at communicating.

And fifth, never give up. Many people want to change to be more confident and better at communicating or public speaking, but they have only studied briefly and already give up, and have only tried briefly and already feel unconfident. So remember, lack of confidence is only a temporary feeling of ours, feeling unworthy, afraid of being bullied, and afraid of becoming a topic of gossip. Trust that if we want to succeed, we must start learning to appear confident. If we are confident in what we do, our results will be far more extraordinary. So, never give up until we become a confident person, even though we are still learning and continue to learn.

Well, those were 5 tips for turning an introvert into a confident person, and hopefully we can learn to be even more confident. Most people say “Be yourself”, meaning there is no need to follow others, be more confident, and do not change. Others say “Be the best version of yourself”  meaning you must believe that you can change to appear confident and believe you can be more successful than you are now.

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