Power of 23 Series- Day 15

 #PowerOf23# Day 15 - 23 Qualities To Inculcate To Create A Great First Impression!

We all know “First Impressions” matter. On this thought in mind, lets continue with our today’s topic in the @PowerOf23 series on “23 Qualities To Inculcate To Create A Great First Impression!”

You may heard the saying “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression!” The first impression is unlikely to change easily so it’s vital that the first impression is impactable. Psychologists call judging a person in the first meeting based on the impressions created as “Thin Slicing”

While science suggests passing judgment based on others’ expressions and outward appearances and looks is a rather inaccurate way to evaluate, understand a person, however the fact cannot be ignored that first impressions aren’t going away and a lot is at stake be it personal relationship or professional on basis of the first impression that has been created which has a long lasting effect. Making a good first impression can have big benefits: more friends, a good partner, better pay, and other plusses.

Rule7/11 : A concept of 7/11 Rule is predominant where First Impressions are concerned. People form eleven decisions about a person in the first seven seconds after meeting them. Those impressions are based on the following:-

• Education Level

• Economic Level

• Perceived Credibility, Believability, Competence and Honesty

• Trustworthiness

• Level of Sophistication

• Sex-Role Identification

• Level of Success

• Political Background

• Religious Background

• Ethnic Background

• Social/ Professional / Sexual Desirability

Research suggests that good-looking and taller men often receive higher salaries than less-attractive, shorter men. Other research suggest physically attractive people are perceived to be more interesting, warm, outgoing, and socially skilled than people who are less attractive.

Let us note down those 23 qualities which create an Awesome First Impression.

1.Body Language: Keep your posture open and inviting; otherwise you could come off as cold and distant. Use your hands and arms when you speak, especially to punctuate important points in your conversation. Make eye contact occasionally, with multiple people if you have a larger audience, without breaking too quickly or too slowly. Finally, make sure you stand (or sit) tall, with your shoulders back. It's a confident posture that can also help you breathe, display confidence and speak better.

2.Give Attention: While meeting new people greet them with a firm handshake, look them in the eye and smile. Give them attention. All this signifies you are important to the other person.

3.Be Engaged: Getting actively engaged in your discussion with other person, sharing similar experience will go a long way in ensuring the person remembers you. Make sure that you mention their name atleast once in your conversation.

4.Don’t Interrupt: Let the other person talk more. You can add later to the conversation.

5.Your Appearance: Dress slightly better than the occasion warrants. Practice good personal hygiene and make sure to dress appropriately for whatever event you're attending--and of course, overdressing is better than underdressing. Give yourself a double-check before entering the room, these things matter, whether you like it or not.

6. Ability to Converse: When you first meet somebody, talk to them like you would talk to a friend or an acquaintance. Loosen up the meeting with a natural, interpersonal conversation. Some people call this small talk, but it's an important element of interaction.

7. Your Emotional State: Never ever let your emotional distress be evident as it can easily work its way into your voice, your actions, and your body language, even if you don't intend to. To avoid this, pause few minutes before any meeting to clear your head or smile anything that help you quarantine those negative emotions and enables you to focus on the positives in front of you.

8. Smile and Laugh: Smiling and laughing are contagious; the more you smile and laugh, the more likely it is that the person you are meeting will do so too. It also shows that you're fun and easy to get along with.

9. Actively Listening: People like to be heard when they speak. Never interrupt a person or give an indication that you aren't paying attention; doing so can ruin their first impression of you. Instead, take careful effort to actively listen to that person. Show signs of listening like nodding your head, making eye contact, and giving verbal recognition between sentences, and summarize what he/she is saying to prove you truly heard what he/she said. Doing so makes you seem like a great listener, and therefore, a great person.

10. Positivity of Other Person: Think of the most positive feature of the other person as it will put you in a pleasant frame of mind for your schedule meeting.

11. Positive Attitude: Displaying positive emotions like joy and happiness go a long way in making good first impression.

12. Right Accessories: Wearing right accessories like Branded Clothes, Shoes, Watch etc creates an impression of being affluent, successful, confident and in control.

13. Voice Perfection: Your voice should not be too loud nor too soft. It should be the one to create impact yet be humble and soft to be assertive and create positive approach.

14. Mirroring: Adjusting your voice, gestures, posture and words to the other person creates instant likeness. We all prefer people who are similar to us.

15. Hand shake : A firm handshake is necessary, denotes confidence and means business.

16. Frequent Eye Contact: Make frequent eye contact which speaks of confidence and intelligence, especially when debating or putting forth an opinion, but avoid dominating with your eyes. More than necessary eye contact or constant staring especially with the other gender would also be perceived as Being Flirty.

17. Meet in Person: Wherever possible meet in person. A personal meeting is much successful and creates positivity that an online meeting

18. Be Punctual: Late for a meeting is a sin.

19. Be Yourself : Practicing good body language, small talk, and personable laughter is all good, but it can also make you seem robotic. Don't put on a fake personality and bury your personal identity; be yourself! Act naturally, and show off the personality traits that make you who you are. People appreciate sincerity and loathe artificiality.

20.Your Confidence and Smartness Levels: Eye contact while conversing is perceived as smart and confident. Wearing thick glasses and speaking expressively helps, too.

21. Your Vocabulary: Your command on language is perceived as competency and speaking expressively connotes confidence.

22. Whether you are trustworthy: Feminine, baby-like, and happy faces are perceived to be more trustworthy. You can alter your body language to boost trust in you. Try smiling more, leaning forward, looking people in the eye and mimicking the other person’s body language.

23. Whether you would be Inner Circle or Outer Circle: Everything suggested above would result in creating an impression whether you are the one who would be a Friend or a Foe!

Well, let’s conclude today’s discussion with the fact that “First Impressions Do matter.” However going back to our school days, we were often taught by our teachers “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Accordingly, we would have several times in past been recipient or have spoken the words “Oh! you are completely different than what I perceived you to be!” If you are smiling or nodding head after reading this, you do get a feel of how wrong we are in our judgements at times, we all have encountered situations wherein we realised that we had completed framed a wrong conception and/or totally misinterpreted someone based on the first interaction we had with him/her. Nonetheless, First Impressions Last only when the same impression is continued in the long run.

(C) Prachee Kamat @Powerof23 @PowerOfPositivity @BeliefOfAWoman @BeingAStrongWoman @BeingHappy @LifeIsGood