Read The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism for Free Online

stores need to be operating flawlessly? Would Tom and his team be there for him if a crisis hits?
    Paul has decided to give Tom one final shot at convincing him. For Tom, this could be a turning point in his career. He’s confident that his system is solid and that he and his team can deliver. It’s now up to him to communicate this complete confidence to Paul.
    When Paul asks about crisis situations, Tom has a ready answer. But as he details contingency plans, he starts fidgeting with his suit, running his fingers inside the rim of his collar, and Paul can see Tom’s eyes narrowing.
Is that tension in his eyes?
Paul wonders. Tom’s expression looks tight and uncomfortable, and Paul starts to get a bad gut feeling.
What’s going on?
    Paul was right in seeing tension in Tom’s eyes and face, but that tension had nothing to do with the business matter at hand. Wearing a black woolen suit on a hot, sunny day, Tom was simply feeling
physically
uncomfortable.
    What if you had been in Tom’s place? Even without the itchy suit, imagine being on a sunny terrace in the middle of an important conversation, and suddenly the sun starts hitting your eyes. Whenhuman eyes are hit by sunlight, they automatically tighten or narrow in reaction. Our eye muscles react in the exact same way to this kind of external stimuli as they do to internal stimuli. To the outside world, your face will show the same reaction to discomfort from the sun as it would to feelings of anger or disapproval. This reaction will be seen by the person facing you, and he or she may not know about your physical discomfort. All they know is that they’ve been speaking with you. It would be natural to misinterpret your tension as a reaction to what they’ve just said.
    In fact, that’s probably exactly what will happen, because most of us tend to interpret events—whether they’re personal or impersonal—as relating to us. Traffic on the way to an important meeting can lead us to wonder,
Why did this have to happen to
me
today?
    Any physical discomfort that affects your visible, external state—your body language—even slightly may affect how charismatic you are perceived to be. When interacting with someone, assume that he or she will feel (at least on a subconscious level) that whatever you do relates to him or to her.
    Physical discomfort doesn’t just affect your external state; it also affects your internal state. Some forms of it, such as hunger, can impair your performance in multiple ways. You may already know that you think less clearly when you’re hungry, or at least less clearly about anything that isn’t food-related. Numerous studies confirm that low blood glucose levels lead to impaired attention as well as to difficulties regulating emotions and behavior. 1 This means that you might have a harder time getting into the specific mental state required for the charismatic behavior you would like to exhibit.
    Counteracting charisma-impairing physical discomfort is simple:
Prevent
Recognize
Remedy or explain
    The first, and optimal, step is to plan ahead to prevent the discomfort from occurring. The classic adage “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” holds true here. As much as you can, planahead to ensure you’re physically comfortable. Keeping this in mind as you make your choices every day is a simple way to make charisma easier to attain.
    When you’re choosing a location for a meeting, take comfort into consideration. Ask yourself what the temperature and noise level will be like. Ensure that you’ll be well fed; don’t let yourself (or your guests if you’re hosting) get too hungry. Think about your energy level, and the energy level of the people with whom you’ll be interacting. Is the meeting very early or very late? Signs of fatigue can easily show up in people’s body language as lack of enthusiasm.
    Be sure to choose clothing that will make you neither too hot nor too cold. Avoid clothing that is itchy, ill