I worked with Udemy to create useful, creative, and engaging pieces of content on the topics of some of Udemy’s most popular courses.
Some of the pieces were used for SEM strategies with ads, or pitched to influencers, journalists, and bloggers in complementing fields with the goal of growing the audience, creating unique content, and generating in-bound links.
We put together the content for this fun list of 11 confidence boosters–most of which you can do while sitting at your desk. You can check out a few of my favorite “GIF tips” below. Then take a deep dive with the full GIF experience.
Why Does This Content Create Connection? The topic of confidence is something most people can identify with, and the hand-drawn GIFs provide an interactive and shareable experience that simple text can’t compete with.
Love is in the Air. Literally.
Why? Find your signature scent, and you’re off to a great start. A new study from the University of Liverpool shows that when you like the way you smell, you give off confident nonverbal cues, which boost your attractiveness.
Take Action: Splurge on scent that makes you feel great, and don’t forget to look beyond the perfume counter. Some studies confirm that aromatherapy can improve your mood. Geranium and sandalwood may aid relaxation and ease anxiety. The key is finding a scent that makes you you feel good when you wear it, and then to use the right amount so you don’t overpower anybody’s senses.
Make a Ritual
Create habits to prime yourself for success.
Why? Harvard professors, Michael Norton and Francesca Gina, have found that repeated rituals can make you confident and calm at performance time, and can help you perform better–especially when you’re tackling tough tasks.
Take Action: Empower yourself by belting out a lively tune, or doing a hundred jumping jacks. If you’re used to procrastinating a certain type of project, make it a three step process:
- I make a coffee.
- I tidy my workspace.
- I craft my presentation.
Get Them In On the Joke
It is a laughing matter.
Why? According to the University of Sheffield, parents who joke and pretend with their kids are giving their kids a big advantage. At it’s base, humor is about pattern recognition and finding outliers, and if your kids can do that, they’ll be way ahead, and so will your parenting skills.
Take Action: Be silly with your toddler. Wear a crazy hat. Learn a new knock knock joke, or invest in a joke book for your eight-year old.
Affirm Thy Self
Yes, you can do it.
Why? The Society for Personality and Social Psychology has shown that if you are in a position of lesser power (like when you’re negotiating with your boss), you can benefit from affirmations. Personal affirmations help eliminate perceived power imbalances, so people with less power can achieve better results.
Take action: Writing down the affirmations seems to work best, so pick a topic, like negotiating, and write down your best skills or tactics. Want a general pick-me-up? try something simple like: “my training has prepared me for today.”
We designed the content strategy and wrote the text and headlines. The GIFs were designed and coded by SF-based designer and illustrator, Kathleen Kowal.