How To Unlock Authentic Confidence With Dave Bowden

written by:   Jeff Callahan
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Podcast
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71 minute episode
What you'll learn...

In this episode, I sit down with Dave Bowden, founder of Irreverent Gent and author of Ready to Roar, to dissect the elusive beast called confidence. We cover how to build it, how to stop overthinking in social situations, and why your style isn’t “fake”—it’s a tool. Whether you’re starting conversations, refining your wardrobe, or trying to quiet that nagging inner voice, Dave brings tactical advice and hard-won insights to help you level up your self-assurance.

On this episode of The Become More Compelling Podcast, I'd like to introduce you to my friend Dave Bowden (@IrreverentGent), founder of Irreverent Gent.

In this episode, we tackle a crucial topic: Confidence.


• What is it?
• How do you get it?
• How does it impact different areas of your life?

Confidence is important because it's one of those skills that isn't taught in school. Confidence is learned on the STREET.


(Or maybe just by consistently pushing past your comfort zone.)

This episode is geared towards the fellas. (Although I believe there are valuable insights for everyone.)
Dave has spent the last decade improving himself in the areas of people skills, fitness, and style.
He's gone from shy and reserved to authentically confident, and now he helps men in their 20s and 30s do the same.

Highlights:


​04:00 - One quick tactic Dave used to stop overthinking and win over a new friend at a dinner party.
12:40 - How to avoid information overload and take action on improving your people skills.
37:00 - The mindset Dave uses to overcome the hesitation of starting conversations.
47:45 - How to think about your style and avoiding the imposter syndrome that can come from changing what you wear.

Dave is the Amazon #1 best-selling author of Ready to Roar: How Shy, Quiet, Self-Doubting Guys Become Strong, Charming, Self-Confident Men and the founder of IrreverentGent.com, a blog dedicated to helping guys build confidence.


His work has been featured in The Good Men Project, Well Built Style, and Active Man magazine, among others.

Listening Options:


Listen on Spotify

Show Notes:

04:00 - One quick tactic Dave used to win over a new friend at a dinner party.
07:50 - Dave's origin story.
12:40 - How to avoid information overload and take action on improving your people skills.
13:40 - Book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Question: "Who are you at your highest ambition?"
15:41 - Commander's Intent: How to always know what to focus on and stop overthinking.
18:09 - Decide who you want to be. Debbie Millman and the 10-year plan exercise.
20:01 - ​Your mind plays tricks on you. (The negativity bias.)
22:30 - Realistic negative visualization from the Stoics.
23:15 - Books: Thinking, Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman, Influence, and Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini.
23:44 - The benefits of pronoia.
24:40 - Book: The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane.
27:40 - Focus on small wins.
37:00 - The mindset Dave uses to overcome the hesitation of starting conversations.
40:45 - Book: How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
42:18 - The myth of "You should just not care what other people think!"
43:20 - Let go of needing to be right. You'll never persuade anyone because you're right.
47:45 - How to think about your style and avoiding the imposter syndrome that can come from changing what you wear.
51:25 - Personal Style Profile: Cut through the noise and define your individual style.
59:00 - Journaling helps focus you on what's important.
1:00:00 - Dave's book Ready to Roar: How Shy, Quiet, Self-Doubting Guys Become Strong, Charming, Self-Confident Men.

About the author
Jeff Callahan founded Become More Compelling in 2014. He writes about people skills, habits, and self improvement.

His advice has been featured in TIME, Inc, Business Insider and more.

He has worked with clients from Netflix, Google, US Army among others.

Currently, he is writing THE book on social confidence.

Learn more about Jeff here.

3 ways I can help you level up your communication skills:

1. Private Coaching: I’m the secret weapon top Performers at Google, Netflix, and the US Army trust for people skills coaching. Imagine what I can do for you.

2.
Social Accelerator: Social Accelerator is my proven self-paced + group coaching system for turning social awkwardness into confidence, overthinking into action, and hesitation into meaningful connections.

3. My group convos audio guide. Join over 5,000 overthinkers who have supercharged their group conversation skills using tested strategies in my 56-minute audio training.

I'm Jeff Callahan

Founder of Become More Compelling

I make it nearly impossible for overthinkers to fail at improving their people skills. (I've helped hundreds of people over the last 10 years)

Want to never run out of things to say in conversation again so you connect with more people and make new friends?

Want to speak up more in important meetings at work so you get promoted faster and have an awesome career?

Want to develop unshakeable social confidence and competence so you can walk into any room and feel like you belong there?

As your coach, I'll help you move forward faster.

Learn more about coaching

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