What's with first impressions?

Have you ever met or seen someone for the first time and assumed ANY of the following about them? Most of the times, even before interacting with them…

- their values and beliefs perhaps?

- their trustworthiness

- thought, ‘what a freak!’ 'too snobbish' 'nice' or ‘wow! what a personality!’

- decided whether you would gel with the person or not

- assessed what their status might be

Have you, simply depending on the cues of their image, had a perception about them, even BEFORE speaking with them?! Isn’t it interesting, that based on appearance, there’s so much that’s already communicated? We look at the person - what are they wearing, their body language and their grooming; all put together and consciously or unconsciously form an impression!

There are other elements too that play a part in first impressions, like the way we speak and our physical features. By working on our soft skills and communication etiquette we can take care of the first part. With regards to our physical features, we should accentuate our strengths and play down our variations.

Have you given this a thought - the major constituent of our appearance is what we wear! We decide what we wear and in turn decide what message we are sending out. Our clothes speak!

An ‘impression’ means a ‘mark’ that is left. In this case, an opinion or a feeling, based on the little that is seen. It may be vague or it may be strong. But ‘first impressions’ are the initial and immediate effects that are created. And they count - most importantly as the ‘first.’ Make your ‘first’ your best!!!