The Definitive Book of Body Languageapologise for the interruption and continue as if nothing had
happened. Hey, it works for James Bond...it'll work for you.
If the other person takes a phone call during the meeting or
a third person enters and begins what seems like a long con-
versation, take out your book or homework and begin to read.
This gives them privacy and demonstrates that you don't waste
your time. If you feel the person is doing these things inten-
tionally, take out your own mobile phone and make several
important follow-up calls about the important ventures you
were discussing earlier.
Fake It Till You Make It?If you avoid Hand-to-Face gestures and always talk using open-
ness signals, does this mean you can tell some real whoppers
and get away with it? Well...not necessarily, because if you use
open positions when you know you're lying, your palms are
likely to sweat, your cheeks may twitch and your pupils con-
strict. The most competent liars are those who can go into their
acting role and act as if they actually believe the lie. A profes-
sional actor who can do this better than anyone else is
presented with an Oscar. While we are not suggesting you tell
lies, there is powerful evidence that if you practise the positive
skills we've mentioned throughout this book, they will become
second nature to you and serve you well for the rest of your life.
Scientists proved the 'fake it till you make it' concept using
tests on birds. In many bird species, the more dominant a bird
is, the darker its plumage will be. Darker coloured birds are
first in line for food and mates. Researchers took a number of
lighter, weaker birds and dyed their plumage dark so that these
birds would be 'lying' to the other birds that they were domi-
nant. But the result was that the 'liar' birds were attacked by
the real dominant birds because the 'liars' were still displaying
weak and submissive body language. In the next tests the
weaker birds, both male and female, were not only dyed but
also injected with testosterone hormones to make them act