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Life

How to hack your confidence

By Sonia Van Gilder Cooke

17 June 2015

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

(Image: Westend61/ Getty)

You excel in life by working hard and being competent, right? Maybe so, but a growing body of research suggests that’s not the whole story. What you wear, how you sit, even what’s in the room with you might increase your chances of success – so why not try out the following confidence-boosting tricks?

Write yourself successful
If you’re knock-kneed ahead of an important interview or test, try reaching for paper and pen. Social psychologist Joris Lammers of the University of Cologne in Germany and his colleagues found that students who did a mock business school interview after being hoodwinked into writing about a…

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