Confidence can make or break your career. Luckily for those lacking it, self-belief is easy to boost

　　(1)...........................................

　　“Hugely from a leadership and team perspective,” says Rob Yeung, a corporate psychologist at Talentspace and author of Confidence: The Art of Getting Whatever you Want.

　　“You must be confident for others to have confidence in you. People equate confidence with competence.”

　　Bob Etherington, a sales, negotiation and presentation trainer, says it can be the difference between success and failure. “Companies aren’t run by people who are the best but by people who think they’re the best.”

　　(2)...........................................

　　“Often you do need to feign confidence at first,” says Mr Etherington. “You try and adopt the feeling of someone who knows what they’re doing.”

　　But, he adds, the best thing about faking confidence is that it often evolves into the real thing. “You get a picture in your mind of the outcome you want. Athletes do it all the time – they see the ball going into the hole. Even though you don’t really believe it, your brain latches on to it. That gets your confidence going.”

　　(3)..........................................

　　When engaging in conversation or making presentations, Mr Etherington’s advice is: “Speak clearly and drop your voice, stand with your feet about 30 centimetres apart, use your hands when you talk and make eye contact.”

　　Peter Shaw, an executive coach at Praesta, says that personal experiences can also help. “Remember occasions when you have been confident in the past. Encapsulate memories of success,” he says. “You could also have a mantra, like ‘I can do this’ or ‘Keep calm and carry on’. Or you can think of situations where you’re confident outside of work and then transfer some of that into the work environment.”

　　Mr Yeung says: “Psychologists also talk about the ‘illusion of transparency’. Most people believe that when they are nervous everyone can see this. But they can’t. Just remembering this can make you more confident.”

　　(4)..........................................

　　Two ways to improve how you come across are to make sure you have done your homework and to show up to meetings with plenty of time to spare. “You may not actually need to read all those pages the night before but it will boost your confidence,” says Mr Shaw. “Preparation is as much psychological as practical.”

　　Arriving early is also a good way to collect your thoughts. “If you arrive flustered and have to apologise, you won’t inspire confidence in those you’re meeting and you start on the back foot.”

　　(5)...........................................

　　There is a fine line between self-belief and arrogance.A confident manager is grounded enough to “accept criticism and welcome feedback”, adds Mr Yeung.

　　Language Points:

　　1. equate 使等同 2. feign 假裝

　　3. evolve 演變 4. encapsulate 封裝

　　5. mantra 咒語(yǔ) 6. flustered 緊張的

　　Special Hint:

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　　Companies aren’t run by people who are the best but by people who think they’re the best.

　　公司的管理者不是最優(yōu)秀的人才，而是相信自己是最優(yōu)秀的人

　　Exam Focus:

　　此題為BEC中級(jí)考試閱讀真題第二部分模擬，題目要求如下：

　　Choose the best sentence below to fill each of the gaps. Do not use any letter more than once, and there is one letter that won’t be used.

　　A How to use your confidence?

　　B What about faking it?

　　C How important is confidence?

　　D What can I do to build my confidence?

　　E How important is preparation?

　　F Can you be overconfident?

　　Oral Topic:

　　In what way can you boost your confidence at work?

　　Keys(反白可見(jiàn)):

　　1、C 2、B 3、D 4、E 5、F

　　譯文參考：

　　信心能影響你事業(yè)的成敗。幸運(yùn)的是，對(duì)缺乏自信的人來(lái)說(shuō)，信心是很容易提升的。

　　自信有多重要?

　　Talentspace的企業(yè)心理學(xué)家羅布•楊(Rob Yeung)表示：“從領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力和團(tuán)隊(duì)的角度來(lái)看，非常重要�！睏钪�有《自信：心想事成的技巧》(Confidence: The Art of Getting Whatever you Want)一書(shū)。

　　“你必須相信其他人對(duì)你有信心。人們將信心等同于競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力”。

　　銷(xiāo)售、談判和演講培訓(xùn)人鮑勃•埃瑟林頓(Bob Etherington)表示，自信可以決定你成功與否。“公司的管理者不是最優(yōu)秀的人才，而是相信自己是最優(yōu)秀的人”。

　　假裝自信怎樣?

　　埃瑟林頓表示：“通常你一開(kāi)始確實(shí)需要假裝自信。你要努力模仿那些胸有成竹的人的情緒�！�

　　但他補(bǔ)充稱，假裝自信的最佳之處在于它往往會(huì)演變成真正的自信�！澳阍谀X海中勾畫(huà)自己想要獲得的結(jié)果，運(yùn)動(dòng)員一直是這么做的——他們?cè)谀X海中看到球落入了籃筐里。即便你并非真的相信它，你的大腦也會(huì)留下印象。這會(huì)激發(fā)你的自信”。

　　我如何才能建立自信?

　　埃瑟林頓的建議是，當(dāng)與人交談或發(fā)表講話時(shí)，“吐字清晰，降低音調(diào)，雙腳分開(kāi)約30公分，說(shuō)話時(shí)運(yùn)用手勢(shì)，并與聽(tīng)眾進(jìn)行目光接觸”。

　　Praestad 的高級(jí)教練彼得•肖(Peter Shaw)表示，個(gè)人經(jīng)歷也能有所幫助。他表示：“記住你曾經(jīng)自信滿滿的時(shí)刻。封裝成功的記憶。你還可以給自己想個(gè)咒語(yǔ)，比如‘我能做到’或者‘保持鎮(zhèn)定并繼續(xù)’�；蛘呋叵肫鹉阍诠ぷ髦�外感到自信的場(chǎng)合，隨后把一部分場(chǎng)景轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)楣ぷ鳝h(huán)境�！�

　　楊表示：“心理學(xué)家也提到了‘被洞悉錯(cuò)覺(jué)’(illusion of transparency)。大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為，當(dāng)自己緊張時(shí)，所有人都會(huì)知道，但事實(shí)并非如此。只要記住這一點(diǎn)便可以讓你更自信。”

　　提前準(zhǔn)備有多重要?

　　提升表現(xiàn)有兩個(gè)辦法：確保你做足功課和早到。肖表示：“你實(shí)際上可能不需要在前一天晚上閱讀全部資料，但它會(huì)提升你的信心。提前準(zhǔn)備既有心理效果，又有現(xiàn)實(shí)效果。”

　　早到也是集中思想的好辦法�！叭绻�你慌慌張張地趕到目的地，并不得不為此道歉，那些與你會(huì)晤的人就不會(huì)對(duì)你有信心，因此你一開(kāi)始就處于不利地位�！�

　　一個(gè)人有可能自信過(guò)頭嗎?

　　自信與傲慢之間有著細(xì)微差別。楊還補(bǔ)充道，一個(gè)自信的經(jīng)理頭腦清醒，能夠“接受批評(píng)并歡迎反饋”。