Calm Submissive State

[siamesecat]

So I have a few interviews coming up.

I am a pretty confident person speaking in front of people/groups, however for some reason whenever I do, I LOOK like I'm nervous. I'm not nervous on the inside but my body appears to be by the whole fidgeting, or obsessive 'ums,' etc...but I always have everything planned on in my mind and tell myself there's nothing to be worried about, but my heart never seems to not feel like it's going to burst out of me in situations like interviews.

Does that make sense...anybody else feel that way? Or have tips to help you body stay calm and appear the way you FEEL on the inside (aka confident). I keep thinking of Ceasar Milan's calm submissive state and would like to apply it to humans...

Anybody have any advice for speaking calmly, yet persuasively in an interview? Any general tips would be helpful. I've always been phenomenally better at writing out ideas than speaking them, and of course I have to speak them at my interview so I need to get over this quick.

Yay for interview yoga! no really...breaaaathe.

[jojobee]

I probably won't be much help -- but I had to reply because your post title had me LOL-ing!

One thing I've been doing is asking questions in my head and saying answers out loud. Basically, talking to myself. You feel hella silly, but you know, all the great writers/editors tell you to read your work out loud and I think somehow this is related, yeah? Just get used to rambling to yourself. Listen to your voice: its quirks, its kinks.

Along the lines of yoga, sorry if this sounds super out there, but I once had a dance instructor always start out class with a series of moves that were about the elements or something. Anyway, the element that was supposed to keep us calm and grounded was--obviously--earth. Starting with your hands by your side and your feet spread shoulder-width apart, you jump and land so that your toes are pointing to their respective sides (left to left, right to right) with your knees are bent and your arms spread out, parallel to the ground. Err. I wish I could draw a picture. Hah! Hold the stance and concentrate on your breathing.

You're smart and know you're confident. It'll all work out.

[siamesecat]

Whooo thanks! maybe I'll try the earth exercise, I could visualize from what you said...haha I can just imagine doing it right before they bring us in with the other candidates and them going 'is she off her rocker??'

"no, I'm just getting calm whoo!'

[jojobee]

lol!! Yes, I strongly advise doing that before the committee!

One thing I absolutely have to remind myself before an interview is to SLOW DOWN. My brain goes on rapid fire when I'm nervous.

Good luck! Rooting for ya!

[Pamphilia]

Yay for interview yoga! no really...breaaaathe.

Well, speaking of "interview yoga"...my tenth grade English teacher tried to discourage us from saying "like" and "uhh" in class because it made us sound slackjawed or nervous. He did allow us to keep "um," however, but only if we turned it into "Om." He said it made us sound thoughtful and meditative instead of like ignorant teenagers.

Genius interview strategy???

[siamesecat]

Yay for oms!

thanks for the rooting jojobee! rooting for you as well

[profound_g]

Umm, you could still be like nervous, and uhh, stuff.

I would say that while you don't perceive yourself being nervous, all these physiological symptoms basically indicate that your body begs to differ. Especially the heart rate thing.

Then again you're not the first, nor the last applicant who's going to be nervous on an interview, and the adcom knows that. Don't worry about it hurting your chances.

[siamesecat]

That is true...hehe.

[far_to_go]

One of the tricks that I use is to practice turning "filler" words and phrases into more erudite expressions, like this:

"stuff like that" ---> "similar theoretical and practical considerations", "related topics,"

I also try to keep my tone of voice low and even, and speak fairly slowly. Somehow this helps me to feel more in control of what I'm saying.

[siamesecat]

Thanks far_to_go....I've been practicing speaking out loud and definitely keeping the voice low has seemed to help instead of seeming 'overly excited' which makes me more nervous.