How Impressions Impact Your Life & Career
When you walk in to the room you send out messages, whether you intend to or not. Your message combines your physical look with your energy to say “This is who I am.” The way you look expresses aspects of your personality and tastes. It can say “I’m elegant and natural,” or “I’m creative and individualistic,” or “I’m shy and reserved,” or “I’m dull and boring.” You’ve seen people whose image suggests a boring and dull person. They could be a fascinating person…but who would know?
“Don’t judge a book by the cover,” is an axiom most of us heard growing up. Yet the truth of the matter is that most people do. There’s no such thing as a neutral impression. Your personal impact is either working for you by creating the impression you desire — or it’s working against you, by sending messages you don’t particularly want to express. Do you know what you express?
Accurate or not, your look suggests a particular type of lifestyle and reflects certain values. Those you meet decide whether you are interesting or boring, casual or formal, traditional or contemporary, successful or unsuccessful, with a just a glance. Numerous other evaluations about your economic status, social standing, and educational background will be made. After determining your general level of success and sophistication, they’ll treat you accordingly.
The place to begin is simply to remember that you express dozens of messages visually and energetically. Onlookers make assumptions about whether you are married or single, friendly or aloof, sincere or dishonest, introverted or extroverted. And they will respond to you based on these assumptions, but the good news is that you can control this to a very large extent.
Every day you are communicating with the people you deal with, whether casually or intimately. You let your world know what you think about yourself and how you value yourself. Your ideas about yourself are reflected in both obvious and subtle ways.
You may choose your words carefully, but if your physical or energetic presentation gives out conflicting messages, this can undermine your results. You’ve seen a woman who claims that she wants to be taken seriously and then wears overtly sexy clothing at work. Yet when a woman puts herself together in a way that is polished and professional at work, it sends a message that is empowering and supportive of her goals. Another example is a man who dresses so casually at work that, although he can “get away with it” in his current position, he may not be considered for promotions for which he is well qualified. When these individuals make simple changes, it makes a tremendous difference in their career success.
So what do you do about this? First, begin by assessing the messages you are expressing. If you are tuned in to other people and observe their behaviors and reactions to you, you may know some of this already. Or, you may need objective feedback and guidance. One place to begin is to clarify “who” you are with a clearing of your thoughts by writing, “I am…” at the top of a page and completing that sentence over and over until you have no more thoughts on the subject. Spend at least 15-20 minutes to be complete.
The second step is to write “I would like to be seen and described as being…” and complete that sentence. This is a powerful place to start. If you’d like personal guidance on being aware of your personal impact and creating a set of messages that will really give you what you want, contact me for a Personal Impact Assessment at rebelholiday@designingyourself.com.
