There are certain people who can take an entire room’s attention away. These people tend to be more charismatic than many others. Such leaders and influencers compel you to feel challenged, motivated, or inspired. Now a lot of people think it is due to their expertise in their field that they are able to evoke an emotional response in an audience. However, that is not entirely true.
Contrary to this belief, people from any field can develop charisma with the progression over time. While charismatic leadership comes naturally for some, you can also develop likeability if you work on this aspect of your personality.
According to Olivia Fox Cabane, the author of The Charisma Myth, “Charisma is simply the result of unlearned behaviors.” If you’re wondering how you can develop more charisma in your personality, continue reading this piece.
What is Charisma?
If you don’t have a good understanding of how charisma works, charismatic personalities can leave you in awe of them. Charisma is a broad term that results from a combination of a variety of practices.
Simply put, charisma is a valuable personality trait that has many perks in personal and professional life. Charismatic people can light up a hall as soon as they step in and instantly make you feel special.
Their charisma allows them to build and maintain healthy and strong relationships as they give off positivity. Having a charismatic personality has many perks. The following steps will show you have to improve charisma.
Ways to Develop More Charisma
Charisma is a mysterious personality trait that researchers have been trying to study for decades. Various studies list a number of personality traits that contribute to a charismatic personality. According to a 2018 study, these narrow down to two basic traits:
1) Influence
According to researchers in the study, influence is magnetic. It refers to a person’s ability to draw attention in any given space. Someone who is influential can persuade their audience and even take up leadership roles.
2) Affability
Affability is a personality trait that makes someone emotionally approachable. Affable people are easy to get along with people of different personalities as they are extremely comfortable to be around. You can identify an affable person when they smile very often.
Below are some tips to help you be more charismatic in every day life.
Be Attentive
As we mentioned earlier, charismatic leaders make their audience feel important and valued. Therefore, by practicing active listening, people will often like being around charismatic personalities. If you want to develop more charisma, you must learn to be more attentive and empathic to the people around you.
It is important that you listen to people you interact with if you want them to remember you. Let your body language, expressions, and tone imply that you’re interested in what the other person has to say. Make sure you actively listen and maintain eye contact, paying close attention to tone and facial expressions. Perhaps even practice with a conversation partner to sharpen your skills.
Exude Confidence
If you think about it, most of your favorite charismatic people are confident. You must develop this quality if you want to want to be more charismatic.
According to numerous studies, people who exude confidence add more weight to anything that they say. In fact, confidence can have a greater influence than performance in many cases.
Research suggests that merely the act of looking confident, even when you’re not (and you feel like an impostor), can have a positive impact on your behavior. In fact, you are likely to develop confidence along with charisma.
Show a Wider Range of Expression
Showing more expressions on your face is a great, effective behavior that can help you have more charisma in your personality. If you want to be more charismatic for your upcoming interview, be more expressive.
It is important that you express your emotions accurately and clearly. You can either practice the expression of different emotions in front of the mirror or ask others how well they think you are communicating your feelings.
Also, remember, showing more expression is not always a great idea. You must also learn to control your expressions when experiencing negative emotions such as anger and frustration.
Own Your Oddities
People’s lives are quite similar these days; this is what makes individuality feel refreshing. It is not hard to make small talk and be predictable; almost everyone can do that. But you will appear more charismatic when you fall back and surprise the people you interact with.
One way of developing charisma is to own your oddities and be different. Science reveals that unusual and surprising jolts can become a strong memory.
When you ditch the predictable pattern, two things happen after the release of dopamine in your audience’s brain. The experience gets centered in the brain as memory, and people look forward to meeting you more often.
Bottom Line on Learning Charisma
Charisma is an amazing personality trait that can help you create and maintain relationships and advance your career. When you intrigue someone’s mind and emotions, they are more likely to be interested in spending more time with you.
A few simple practices can help you develop more charisma but make sure to be yourself throughout.
Want to develop more charisma and put it into action? Book a free trial session and we’ll see how I can help!
Paul Strobl, MBA, CPC
Owner of Confide Coaching, LLC
Paul is a Master Life Coach for GenX and GenY executives and business owners. Originally from Houston, Texas, he has been location independent for most of his adult life. He currently resides in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria near the Greek border with his brilliant wife, 13-year-old stepson (officially adopted in 2021!) and a Posavac Hound rescue.
