Prescription Wealth

One of the greatest life lessons I learned was in college. I picked up my Sophomore year from my friend Mark. He’s a guy who projects confidence in any situation, in the face of any intimidating situation. Awkward introduction? Not for Mark. Anxiety-ridden job interview? Mark wouldn’t even sweat.

This isn’t to say Mark’s abundance of confidence was always a blessing—he rarely relinquished a position in argument and often entered into arguing matches. But to a younger and more timid me, Mark’s seemingly limitless reserve of self-confidence was a quality I deeply envied.

When we would hang out with our friends, their mannerisms, postures, and other behavior tend to rub off on us—psychologists call this  “the chameleon effect”. Just by hanging out with Mark, I began to pick up behaviors such as making eye contact, maintaining taller posture, using hand gestures, and speaking assertively. I still didn’t possess the internal confidence I coveted, but I began acting as if I did. I slowly recognized that my change in behavior affected Read the rest of this entry »