How To Overcome Shyness At Work

You want to rise through the ranks, but your social awkwardness is holding you back. So, how do you overcome shyness at work?

And a lot more. Keep reading to find out:

The Main Difference Between Being An Introvert And Being Shy

The main difference is pretty simple. Although introversion and shyness can basically be called work buddies, they're actually very different things.

Being an introvert just means you like to have alone time, whereas being shy means you actually get anxiety when you're in public or out with other people.

With that explained, we can get into:

How To Overcome Shyness At Work

Overcoming shyness at work is actually a pretty straightforward process, although not necessarily easy.

You may not just be shy at work, but you may be shy in general. So, let's fix this challenge once and for all so you can be confident in your work and confident in public.

Here are some tips to overcome shyness at work:

#1. Start Conversations With Coworkers

Keep to yourself at work, but when there's opportunities to socialize, make sure you actually talk to the people around you. You can even start by asking how their day is.

#2. Don't Eat Alone

Instead of running off to your car or to another area to eat by yourself, go join your coworkers if they're in a common eating area, or even invite somebody to go and have lunch.

#3. Join Work Parties

Staying at home can be nice and tempting, especially if you're shy or an introvert. But when there's a work party, make sure you show up, even for a little bit.

This will help you make sure you can get a chance to mingle with everyone.

#4. Go To A Networking Event

Just like going to social parties is going to help build your social confidence by getting more conversation practice, going to network events is also going to do the same thing.

#5. Set Up Your Own Get Together

Instead of going to somebody else's party or somebody else's networking event, set up your own party.

#6. Socialize Outside Of Work

If you have other opportunities to go to parties or other social events or networking events, make sure you join them.

That's going to give you a lot more experience and a lot more conversational experience, which will make you more confident at work.

Also, the reality is that in order to deal with social anxiety at work, you need to expose yourself to more socializing.

It's kind of counterintuitive, but you basically have to jump into the storm and learn the deal of your own emotions around that and become progressively less shy.

#7. Do A Presentation

If there's opportunities to do presentations at your work, make sure you get in front of your office so you can overcome the anxieties of doing public speaking.

If not, go and find a public speaking group where you can get practice.

#8. Watch Your Body Language

What is your body language telling other people? Is it confident or is it insecure?

Your body language isn't just going to communicate to other people how you feel, but it's also going to communicate to your own brain how you feel.

So, if you have your hands in your pockets all the time, you're looking at the ground, you have a resting bitch face, and all that stuff is going to tell you that you're not confident. It's also going to make people less likely to want to engage with you.

#9. Make Eye Contact

When you're in the office, make eye contact with everyone, including the boss.

This is a really good starting point for communicating with other people before you even say anything.

#10. Speak With A Strong Voice

Speaking with a strong voice will not only make you feel more confident, but it's going to show a lot more confidence to the people around you.

That's going to make you feel more confident about your job.

The more you can do this, the more social experience you can get, the more confident you're going to be at your work and more confident you're going to be in their areas of your life too.

Bonus: #11. Become An Expert In Your Field

Lacking confidence or being shy at work can be caused by many things, but one thing that boosts your confidence would be just becoming an expert in your field.

Become an expert or be really good at your job. That way, when other people need help, they're going to go to you because you're going to be the go-to guy. That's going to help you feel a lot more confident about it.

For more info on how to deal with shyness, check out this post.

Summary

These are the steps you can use to overcome shyness at work:

1. Start conversations with coworkers: start with asking your coworkers how their day is going
2. Don't eat alone: join your coworkers in the common eating area
3. Join work parties: show up, even if it’s just a little while
4. Go to a networking event: it’ll help you build your social confidence
5. Set up your own get together: push yourself and set out your own party
6. Socialize outside of work: it’ll help you get more conversational experience
7. Do a presentation: no matter if it’s work or not, make sure you get practice doing public speaking
8. Watch your body language: remember, body language reflects what you think and what you feel
9. Make eye contact: connect with everyone in the office
10. Speak with a strong voice: it’ll demonstrate your confidence around other people
11. Become an expert in your field: if you do this, you’ll become the go-to guy, which will help you feel more confident in what you do in your role

If you have any questions, leave them below.

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