How can you become instantly trustworthy? It’s actually quite simple: show people that you have their best interest at heart. Have you noticed how warm-and-fuzzy you feel when you see someone putting your well-being before theirs? Just like gratitude, this is as effective as it is simple– but just like gratitude, in order to work, it must be sincere (see earlier posts on our lie-detecting abilities.)
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As usual, rather than trying to tweak the thousand-and-a-half body language signs, it’s best to go straight for their source: your mindset. The good news
is that we have a natural gift for empathy. Since the individuals who were most apt in forming solid alliances with others tended to survive (and thrive, and multiply), a natural ability for affection and empathy became a predominant feature in our species.
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One of the easiest, and most powerful ways to set this tendency in motion is to simply identify with the person, that is, “put yourself in the other person’s shoes.” Don’t just think about it—feel it. If only for a few instants, try to imagine what it would be like to be this person, even if you disagree with their actions.

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Of course you wouldn’t have done whatever that idiot did – you would have never forged that signature, set up that offshore account, worn that orange tie. You know better, you’ve learned better, or have been taught better. But what if you’d been born in this person’s circumstances, suffered from whatever incidents they’ve suffered, been surrounded with the entourage they’ve had? Think of Bradford’s revelation—“There, but for the grace of God, go I.”