Do You Know the Power of Your Smile?
Curt Skene’s In2Win! Career Coaching Supplement.
Have you ever tried to have a negative thought when you’re smiling? It’s nearly impossible. Not only that, but did you know that those around you will find themselves becoming more positive because of your smile? Smiling is the most common and natural communication tool we have.
Smiling boosts the level of the neurotransmitter serotonin and releases endorphins, two vital mood regulators. When you smile it communicates a genuine happiness and sense of optimism that others will appreciate. Try asking a friend to look at you with a straight face and then have them smile. Did you notice a difference?
Did you see how warm and inviting the smile made them. A smile adds brightness, color and cheer, and gives out that little extra element of trust. While a smile doesn’t force someone to feel good about you it sure goes a long way to doing so! As Dale Carnegie said, “A smile costs nothing, but creates so much.
It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.” Studies have shown that those who smile often live longer and are more successful because smiling reduces stress and can win you more friends and seal business deals. Actors, politicians and successful executives practice their ability to smile daily.
A genuine smile makes you more approachable and helps both you and others feel more positive.
Why I Wrote This Page
Because smiling doesn’t just express a feeling, it can generate one. The physical act itself nudges your own mood, and separately, people unconsciously mirror the expressions of whoever they’re with.
This means your smile is quietly installing a small positive state in the interviewer without either of you consciously noticing it. It isn’t manipulation, it’s basic human wiring, emotional contagion is real and well documented. The professionals who walk into a room smiling aren’t just seeming warmer. They’re measurably shifting the emotional tone of the meeting before a single word is exchanged.
This is one of the few tools in an interview that costs nothing, requires no preparation, and works on both people in the room at once.
Action Steps
- Practice smiling naturally before you walk into any meeting, in the elevator, in your car. It’s harder to fake convincingly in the moment than to arrive already warmed up.
- Notice the interviewer’s expression shift when you smile genuinely. It’s immediate feedback that the mirroring effect is working.
- Don’t force it through discomfort or bad news in your own life. A genuine smile lands. A forced one is usually detectable.
In2Win! Afterthought
Curt’s current observations and updated guidance will be added here.
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