What Message Do You Send to Others?

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression"

How do you represent yourself? I think this is important to think about. Every day you come across a variety of people. You come across friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and strangers. Everyone develops a first impression about you. That impression sticks. A first impression is almost impossible to erase.  Before interaction with a person, in most cases, your first impression is your physical appearance (sad but true). It is your eyes that first interact with a person, and a statement/opinion is made. If someone is dressed professional, your mind could come to the conclusion that the person is sophisticated, responsible, etc.

When I am at work, even if I do not know people that I pass in the hallways... I still say hello. I look them in the eyes. To me, they could be a future boss one day. You never know. This is something most people do not think about. You have no idea the people that you could come in contact with through out the day and leaving a good lasting impression is important. You want to represent yourself in the best way possible.

Hygiene is obviously very important. Taking care of yourself gives you a confidence. Do you feel better if you leave the house in sweatpants, or dressed up? When you are dressed up, you have more confidence; you don't mind who you run into or where you go, because you feel dressed appropriately. Confidence makes all the difference. It changes the way you hold your head up; the way you carry yourself. I never realized the importance of taking care of yourself... how it changes your self esteem. It even changes the way you behave. I am a big advocate for school uniforms. Here is why: I believe uniforms change behavior. Just as a job wants you to dress professional, a school wants you to respect a dress code. This reminds you, it is not play time. It is not your own time. It is time to focus on work/school.

With technology, you are able to build impressions of others without even seeing them face to face. Your profile picture on a social network gives a great indication of the person you are. The Internet enables you to say whatever you would like, whenever you want. People do not realize the amount of negativity they may portray to others on just social networks. Leave your baggage at home. Do not bring it into the social world because no one needs wrapped into an already negative situation. It is important to realize how big of an impact your messages could make on others. It could effect your friendships, or even opportunities for employment. Agencies can search you online and at least see your profile photo. That photo can give a negative vibe/positive vibe. You can build an assumption about someone based on one small photo. When you type something online, it is something that is documented in writing... it could be copied/pasted or printed off. Only write something that could not come back to haunt you. This is something I see happen every day. The Internet alone has changed the way I look at people and the way I trust people. It easy to hide behind a computer screen, however act as if you are speaking in front a group of people...After all, that's exactly what you are doing.

Had to make it a quick blog today but just wanted to throw out another thing to think about ;)