The POWER of First Impressions

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First impressions are powerful and key to building professional relationships. Because people make decisions based on them. For example:

• Are you trustworthy?
• Are you friend or foe?
• Do they like you? 
• Should they hire you?

 Do you know that we only have 7 seconds to make a first impression? It's true, according to Forbes. 

Part of making a good first impression is believing in yourself, the person you are, and your potential. Perhaps it sounds silly, but each of us has God-given gifts and talents the world needs. And, not making a good first impression could be a barrier to us sharing our gifts with the world. 

Let's look at five easy ways to make a good impression. 

SMILE

Employers, generally, want to hire friendly people. Smiling is the quickest way to demonstrate that you are friendly and approachable. 

MAKE EYE CONTACT

Making eye contact shows interest and demonstrates that we have nothing to hide. Now, I’m not saying STARE. Because that’s just weird. But, the majority of the time we should be giving the speaker our full attention. 

FIRM HANDSHAKE

Giving a firm handshake demonstrates that we are confident and helps build rapport. According to Forbes, a firm handshake can establish just as much rapport as 3 hours of interaction.

FOCUS ON THEM

Pay attention to the speaker and what they are saying. Don't focus on how you will respond. Doing this frees you to live in the moment and be authentic. 

One of my clients is an actor, and we talked about this a few weeks ago. He explained that focusing on the other person (or the given objective in actor speak) frees you to be more responsive.

POWER POSE (before hand)

Before going into a stressful situation like a first date, performance, or job interview. I recommend power posing. 

I learned about this idea from a TED Talk by Amy Cuddy. The idea is that our posture can determine our outcome because we feel better about ourselves. She recommends holding postures of power for 2 minutes for an instant confidence booster.

I know you may be skeptical. Morris was too. But, guess what? Just before he did our taxes last month...I caught him power posing. So, give it a shot! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Check out Amy's 6-minute concept here:

If you found this post helpful, leave a comment below or share it! It makes me feel better to know that I'm not writing long letters to myself:-). Love, Simone

Question: What other tactics can we use to make a good first impression?