First Impressions

Remember when, a long time ago, someone told you that first impressions are everything? Guess what, they are. In this day and age, people are quick to base their opinions on just about anything on their initial experience (i.e. first impression).

Let me state here that there are so many paths to take on this subject, however, I’m going to limit my comments to your own first impression. The one you portray to others.

If you don’t want to be classified as a particular sort of person, or stereotyped, then you should take care of how you portray yourself to others. Seriously, you’re grown, right? Stop getting upset when people treat you a certain way. Stop and look at yourself to figure out if the way people are treating you is directly affected by the way you portray yourself. (I’m going to list examples here. If you find yourself becoming offended, either stop reading or start taking a long hard look at yourself.) If you don’t take pride in the way you look, for example, people may take a first look at you and think that you’re a slob. (I’m not saying we don’t have days where we just are a mess… if you catch me in Wal-Mart on a Saturday, your reaction would probably be WTH!!) When people think of a slob, they think lazy. When people think of lazy, they think you’re not willing to put effort into anything. When people think this, there is a good chance that you won’t be on the top of their list when they are looking for someone to take charge and be a leader. Next in line… if you’re consistently seen with appears to be a scowl on your face, regardless of the reason, people will tend to think you’re a b…(I’m talking about myself here, lol). If people think this of you, they aren’t likely to approach you for anything. End of story. If you are someone that is consistently bragging about what you have and putting other people down for not achieving what you have, people will believe you’re arrogant. When people think arrogant, they think selfish. When people think selfish, they think you’re not willing to do anything that will directly benefit you therefore they will not come to you for anything. (This is a great way to turn off someone you’re trying to impress…) Finally, and here is where some of you will definitely get offended, if you don’t want people to associate you with trash or thug… STOP for the love of humanity, dressing and behaving in ways that feed into the stereotypes associated with such behavior.

I guess what I’m trying to get at here is that if you don’t want to be a stereotype, then stop using the stereotypes as an excuse to behave the way you do. Take pride in who you are and what you have to offer society. Learn to be a productive citizen of society. You start this process by really taking a long look at who you are, who you want to be and how you’re presenting yourself to others.
As always, if you’re needing some help with this, I’m always happy to dish out free advice…