How To Break Eye Contact With Confidence

We know that friendly eye contact is an important non-verbal cue of confidence, respect and connection in western cultures. But can you also show confidence, maintain respect and keep connection when breaking eye contact? Yes, you can, and you should!

Have you ever been in conversation with someone who is looking at you so intensely in conversation that it becomes uncomfortable? It can feel like a very bright light shining on you and can make you want to escape! Or alternatively, you keep up with the intense eye contact because you don’t want to be the first to break it, despite how uncomfortable it feels. Breaking eye contact is necessary because you don’t want to be the person who is making others feel uncomfortable with your intense eye contact.

This video describes what is the general rules of eye contact when listening and speaking, and how to break eye contact with confidence while maintaining connection with the other person.
#eyecontact #confidence #conversationskills

[janey]

I feel this alot. I know a lovely lady who bought it to my attention today and we had a chat about it like I still don't know how to implement this in real life I guess just keep trying.. I want to maintain warm eye contact but i don't want to force it I think it needs to be genuine and then knowing how to look away is the hard part for me I don't want to make others feel uncomfortable but it can feel intense for both parties and i dont want to seem intimidating because im a softy at heart

[RamonaLuna-pk]

Ugh this is so me. I’m trying to practice breaking eye contact.. I feel like others may feel uncomfortable by me…

[moniqueschmucker]

Thank you, Antoinette! I can totally relate to breaking eye contact with confidence. It’s something that happens so quickly that I don’t even realize it until I make eye contact again. It’s only for a few seconds and when I am trying to stay focused and am in deep thought. Thank you for this insightful video. Very encouraging and reassuring. 😊

[JoshSchonert]

Wow, you just explained exactly how I feel when I'm in a conversation and someone is never breaking eye contact. I have a hard time with eye contact in face-to-face conversations due to ADHD and some people feel like I'm not listening. When I repeat back what they said, then they get offended. This made a lot of sense to me.

[DarrylSmith]

Excellent Antoinette! great recommendations, love the prop

[JackieDiy]

This is such a validation of how I was taught during my younger years when I was training in public speaking. My mentor would teach me how to look just above the foreheads of people in the audience to help me overcome my anxiety which helped me stay confident and focused on my speech and delivery. I am not an introvert, in fact, I am very social. but competitions or events I guess for anyone, can be nerve-wracking. This is one of those that I teach my students, to not look straight into the eyes of your audience. Now your video takes my experience into a higher level which will help me coach my mentees from an introvert's perspective. I enjoyed your video! VRAFAM here and I am a fan! Subscribed!

[SPsounds]

Hey i really need your help ! I had a very short eye contact with a girl I like and we have seen each other 1 time before long time ago. I saw her again this week and as soon as we had the very short eye contact she looked away to the upper left very quickly almost like she was trying to remember if it was me. Do you know anything about why women break eye contact fast and look to the upper left?