First, her thesis: Our nonverbal behaviour not only governs how other people think and feel about us, but also governs how we think and feel about ourselves. By changing our nonverbal behaviour, we can change how we interact with the world and how the world interacts with us.

So how do you fake it? Amy Cuddy recommends faking it with the use of power posing. To power pose means to sit or stand in a position that exudes power – specifically prior to entering into a high stress situation like a job interview, audition, public speaking event, or performance. You don’t necessarily have to strike your power pose in the company of others, but could do it privately. You would just need to find a space where you can be alone to throw your arms wide and smile big.

It makes sense. In the same way that “fake” smiling can actually make you feel happy, “fake” posing can actually make you feel confident.

How does it work?

Power posing raises your levels of testosterone and lowers your levels of cortisol (this combination is found in both alpha males and effective leaders). This is not about turning into a Miranda Priestly (Devil Wears Prada) or Gordon Gekko (Wall Street). It’s not about feeding some false sense of superiority.  It’s about finding your inner power, because finding that side of you is really the only way that you’ll ever be able to share your true self when placed in a high stress situation.

Power posing helps you access your truth. Power sucking poses do nothing but hide your true essence. They are a mask, and even if you’ve identified with this powerless personna (as I have), some part of you must know that this can’t be the real you, because if something is making you feel bad about yourself… well, then that just can’t be right.

But Let’s Go Further!

What if you did it before everything (not just prior to a job interview). What if first thing in the morning you woke up and you spread your arms wide and you said I am awake and ready for my day.

What if when you decided that it was time to write, you stood up and you spread your arms wide and, instead of spending the first 30 minutes of your writing session looking at youtube videos as prep (which I’ve done), you got right into it. Goofing off in preparation for work only facilitates your identification with someone who is uncommitted, who has trouble concentrating, and who is easily distracted. Instead, when it’s time to work, Spread your arms wide, tell yourself some sort of affirmation, and then get straight to work.

The more I read and the more self discovery that I do, the more I realize that our identities don’t mean shit. It’s just another lie that we’ve all bought into. The lie that our past makes up who we are. The lie that causes us to speak in absolutes:

I always get sick

I can’t sing

I’m not confident

I’m shy

If we were to go even further. Maybe even statements like: I have seasonal allergies, I’m near-sighted, I have depression, I have insomnia.  Maybe even these statements could be disproven.

How I know “faking it” really works:

Ever since I can remember, I suffered from severe seasonal allergies. I was allergic to dust, pollen, cats, dogs, freshly cut grass. The garbage bin in my bedroom was always full of tissues. I have memories of swollen and puffy eyes and a perpetually red and irritated nose. That was my identity: I have allergies. I remember in university even considering getting shots to alleviate my symptoms. Then something incredible happened. My allergies disappeared.

A few years prior I had purchased the book “The Secret.” It sat on my bookshelf for years unread. Then my boyfriend noticed it on my bookshelf about a year into our relationship. He took it down and started reading it, and then encouraged me to read it. The passage that stuck out the most to us was the passage about healing:

“One of the things that people often do when they have an illness is talk about is all the time. That’s because they’re thinking about it all the time, so they’re just verbalizing their thoughts. If you’re feeling a little unwell, don’t talk about it — unless you want more of it. Know that your thought was responsible and repeat as often as you can, “I feel wonderful. I feel so good,” and really feel it. Speak only the words of what you want.”

Greg challenged me to start talking about how good it felt to be healthy. I was apprehensive but I did it anyway. Honestly, I didn’t even put 100% into it, but within 3 months my allergies had suddenly disappeared without a trace. Now, 3 years later, I no longer even identify as someone with allergies… because I don’t have them.

Farther Down the Rabbit Hole

Here’s how I know for certain that there is something screwy about this thing called “identity.” This excerpt was taken from the book ” Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d by Candace P. Pert (one of the talking heads in the film “What the Bleep?”). In this excerpt she’s talking about multiple personality disorder (now renamed Dissociative identity disorder)

“The physiological differences [between each personality] can be so extreme that one personality might be a cat fancier while another is allergic to felines. When the allergy-prone personality is dominant, all the symptoms are exhibited, but when the cat fancier is in charge, the person is symptom free.”

So then who are we? If we can’t identity as being the person who’s shy in social situations, the person who gets sick all the time, the person who has trouble talking to people… if we can’t identify with these statements, then who are we? If we are not all of these things that we have come to believe about ourselves, who are we? Are we frauds if we’re behaving in a way that’s not “us?”

Does Power Posing Make You a Liar?

No. You’re only a “liar” if you’re lying about facts. Turns out: Your identity is not a fact. 

Related Articles

The Battle Between Your Power Pose and The Imposter Syndrome: Who Wins? (Forbes)

This Simple ‘Power Pose’ Can Change Your Life and Career (Business Insider)

Power Posing: Viramudra and Jayamudra (Elephant Journal)

Power Poses That Will Boost Your Career (The Telegraph)

Power Postures Can Make You Feel More Powerful (Wired)