Success is not something we are born with; it is something we make for ourselves. Success is also not about having knowledge as there are many knowledgeable people in the world who are not successful. Instead success is something of a mixture of our efforts, our knowledge, and our communications. And communications comes in two forms, verbal and non-verbal or body language. Successful people not only know how to verbally communicate effectively, but they also know the power of non-verbal language. Let’s look at some examples.

Eye Contact

Every successful person maintains eye contact with the person or audience they are talking to. When we maintain eye contact we are showing that we are interested in the other person and what they are saying. A fact about eye contact is that when are looking directly at the face of someone speaking we are usually in listening mode.

When a successful person is speaking their eye contact demonstrates their sincerity and trustworthiness. However, when you are speaking to a group of people your eye contact should bounce from one person to another of those who are listening. This shows not only your sincerity, but also that you are confident in what you are saying.

Listening

Some people may think that listening isn’t a type of non-verbal communication, but it most certainly is. To be begin with if you are listening that means you are not talking and this alone makes listening a non-verbal type of communication. But listening has body language components in it as well. As we noted previously when a successful person listens they maintain eye contact with the person who is speaking and this is body language that send the message to the speaker that you are interested in what the speaker has to say.

Also, when we listen we often project other body language that demonstrates our interest or disinterest. For example, our head, facial, and body movements speaks volumes about how interested we are in hearing what another person has to say. If you are moving your head from side to side, looking around, and you are fidgety chances are very good that you are not interested in listening to the other person.

Posture

Body posture is a body language that also says a lot about you. Successful people demonstrate a calm and confident body posture. When standing successful people stand erect and don’t slouch over, keeping their head and shoulders level. The feet are placed comfortably apart, generally eight to ten inches, and any body movement is done from the pelvis.

The hands and arms of the successful person are in a relaxed position, either loosely linked together at the front or comfortably resting at their sides, but never buried in pockets or crossed over in front of the chest. When speaking the successful person may move their hands about, but the movements are light and smooth with the palms up. Palms down indicate dominance and aggression.

We have covered some body language points that successful people use when they are communicating with others, however they are many more. These are presented to you to give a place to start in developing your own.