Goal: Make Better First Impressions

Tuesday of this week I started my new job! I'm a creative intern at an advertising agency and I'm so excited about it, but it also means I'm making multiple first impressions every day! It's not that I think I normally make a bad first impression, but I'm the type who can be quiet and shy when I first meet someone. In a big agency being quiet and shy and also make you look weak and forgettable. I was browsing through www.Digg.com when I came across this study on first impressions. In short it reinforces how strong first impressions actually are. They can be so strong that any action to counteract that first impression will often just be seen as an "exception to the rule" rather than the truth and it takes multiple occasions in different contexts to prove you aren't your first impression. So how am I going to improve the first impressions I give?

1. Take risks. This is something that I often find I don't do right away. The only way I have a chance at making stronger first impressions is to take the risk of saying whatever comes to my mind rather than overanalyzing what the other person will think of it.

2. Speak up. I need to work on asking more questions and giving longer answers, otherwise I'm making the other person do all the work in getting to know me. And no one wants to be the only person making the effort.

3. Be interested in them. Showing an interest in them will hopefully give them a much more favorable impression of you. If they think you care about them, they're bound to care more about you. But remember to be genuinely interested, people can tell the difference.

4. Find a common interest. Finding a common interest immediately could help to warm things up immediately. If they're interested in something that you are you create an instant bond with the person.

5. Be completely honest and completely genuine. Sometimes putting on your polite face for a first impression can have the opposite effect intended. You don't want to be impolite, but avoid being over the top if you're not always over the top. Don't be so quiet if you aren't always so quiet. All in all be who you are and have good manners. People respect those who are being true to themselves and trust in them much more than if they suspect you're not being you.

So wish me the best of luck in attempting to carry out this goal over the next week or two, hopefully soon I can write a post about my internship! love, lindsay