05 / Confidence guide
Confident Walk: How to Walk Into Any Room
A confident walk isn’t fast or loud. It is steady. Here is how to cross any room, from a meeting to a party, looking like you know exactly where you are going.
Save this guide to PinterestWalking into the room
- 01
Pause at the entrance
Stop in the doorway for one beat. Look at the room. It feels long to you and looks natural to everyone else. It also gives you a second to choose where you are going.
- 02
Choose a destination
Pick where you are walking to before you move: a person, the bar, a chair. Walking with a destination looks purposeful. Wandering while you look for somewhere to go looks unsure.
- 03
Keep a steady pace
Walk at a pace slightly slower than your normal one, and keep it the same all the way across. Nerves make you speed up. Unhurried reads as confident.
TipCount your steps in your head for the first few if you feel rushed.
- 04
Eyes up, chin level
Look at your destination, or at faces, not the floor. Your chin stays level and your head stays still. People see your face instead of the top of your head.
- 05
Arms free and loose
Put your phone away and let your arms hang and swing a little. Hands that fidget or clutch give away nerves more than anything else.
- 06
Arrive and settle
When you get there, stop fully and settle your weight before you speak or sit. Don’t start talking while you are still moving. Arriving cleanly is part of the walk.
What people read from your walk
When you walk into a room, people pick up on your pace, your posture, where you look and what your hands are doing, all before you say anything. A steady pace, a tall posture, eyes up and still hands all say the same thing: I’m comfortable here. You don’t have to feel it for them to see it.
The confident walk, from the ground up
Everything above sits on a good basic walk. If yours needs work, these guides help:
- Posture: good posture while walking
- Gaze: head and gaze
- Arms: what to do with your arms
- Pace: runway walking: pace and beat
Practise at home
- Stand outside a room with the door closed.
- Open it, pause for one beat, look at the room.
- Choose a point on the far side and walk to it at a steady pace.
- Stop fully and settle.
- Repeat five times, then film one from the far side of the room.
Watch the video without sound, as a stranger would. Does the walk look calm and unhurried? Do your hands stay still? Does your head stay level?
Before the walk
For the five seconds before you walk in, use the 5-second confidence checklist: exhale, pause, free your hands, slow your first three steps and find a face. Together with a steady walk, it is the entrance people remember.
Questions
How do I walk confidently if I’m shy?
Focus on the physical details: a steady pace, eyes up and loose arms. You don’t have to feel confident to walk confidently.
Is walking slowly always more confident?
A little slower than your nervous pace, yes. Very slow can look hesitant. Aim for unhurried and steady.
Common mistakes
- Checking your phone as you walk in.
- Rushing to the nearest wall or corner.
- Apologetic body language: head down, shoulders up, small steps.
- Talking before you have stopped walking.
- Overdoing it with a big strut.
Défilé · Walk score
Film your entrance in Défilé and see your walk score.
Film a walk and Défilé scores it out of 100, shows you the one thing holding it back and gives you a short drill to fix it. Your video never leaves your phone.
On Android? Défilé is coming soon to Google Play.
