This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Presence" by Amy Cuddy. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What is the importance of presence? How does presence strengthen your creative and communication skills?
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy asserts that presence has numerous benefits. These include proactivity and taking on challenges, improving your ability to build trust, enabling you to think creatively, and increasing your resilience even when things don’t go your way.
Continue reading for in-depth reasons why you’ll benefit from having presence.
How Will Presence Benefit You?
Each time you experience one of these benefits of presence, the behavior is self-reinforcing. With each small win, you’ll feel less anxious the next time you’re in a similar situation. Eventually, you’ll find that being fully present and putting your best self forward comes effortlessly, and will finally understand the importance of presence.
(Shortform note: Some experts suggest that you might become the confident, present person you’re emulating because practicing a behavior repeatedly makes the behavior more natural over time, even if it’s effortful at first or if you don’t get the “small win.” In Switch, Chip and Dan Heath explain that this is partly because you’ll start to attach your identity to that behavior and will be motivated to act in alignment with who you believe you are. For example, if you do a public speaking event regularly, you’ll start to think of “public speaker” as a part of who you are, which will naturally make you more confident.)
1. Presence Makes You More Proactive and Optimistic
One major benefit of presence is that it makes you more proactive and excited to take on challenges. This opens up new opportunities that you might have otherwise avoided due to a fear of failure. (Shortform note: Some experts suggest that the willingness to take action and take on challenges might also be more conducive to innovation. In Daring Greatly, Brené Brown says that the fear of failure tends to make you disengage and avoid risk, yet creativity and learning require vulnerability. She adds that disengagement as a result of fear will ultimately damage how you feel about yourself and demotivate you—much like Cuddy describes the self-reinforcing nature of presence.)
When you have this enthusiastic mindset, you’re also able to reframe your nervousness as excitement, which improves your performance. For example, say you’re about to begin a competition, and you notice your heart rate increases and you have butterflies in your stomach. Presence—reinforced by your body language—allows you to acknowledge the feeling and frame it in a positive way (“I can’t wait to put my hard work to the test!”), rather than feeling like you might choke under pressure.
(Shortform note: One way to reframe anxiety and manage your nerves is to think about the situation in terms of what you can influence versus control. For example, you can influence how you interpret the embodied experience of nervousness either by shifting your body language as Cuddy suggests, or by writing down your negative thoughts and then rewriting them with a positive spin. Psychologist Andrea Marsden also recommends asking yourself if your fear is productive and if there’s anything you can do about it. For example, you won’t be able to control weather conditions or attendance at an event. She says to acknowledge and accept what’s out of your control and focus on the positive thinking that can influence your experience.)
2. Presence Builds Trust
In addition to making you proactive and optimistic, having presence and being able to show people the truest, most confident version of yourself enables you to gain the trust of others quickly. This ability to connect with people is beneficial in countless scenarios including professional settings (such as business pitches, interviews, and speeches) or simply meeting new friends. As a bonus to feeling less self-conscious and stressed, having presence increases your chances of being successful in situations where you want to build trust. By demonstrating that you’re open, friendly, and sincere through your body language, you tend to make people mirror that behavior, encouraging them to exhibit those traits toward you in return.
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Here's what you'll find in our full Presence summary:
- How to navigate social situations, interviews, performances, and more
- The research behind power poses, and how to use them effectively
- Body language you should avoid so others won't resent you
