Why First Impression Matter
Creating a good or bad impression happens in a millisecond
The best thing about first impressions is also the worst thing, the fact that it can only happen once. This means you only have one chance to create a positive or negative impression in a social, professional, or romantic capacity.
According to Artofmanliness,
“When you meet someone new, his or her brain forms an impression of you in just one-tenth of a second! Within 60 seconds, it’s processed as many as ten thousand visual, oral, and tactile cues as to who you are, what you’re like, and whether or not they’d like to get to know you better. These cues are weighed in the brain’s more primal, emotional centers, which instantly produce a visceral assessment — a gut feeling as to whether you’re a potential threat or asset”.
Apparently, due to something called the “primacy effect”, people tend to lend more weight to things they learn first than every other thing that comes afterward. So, if you felt comfortable around someone or a certain dislike on a second meeting, it’s probably as a result of your first impression of them. This is also the same reason why you think someone looks different than they sound. Without meaning to, or having control over it, the brain builds a psychological profile about a person when you meet them for the first time.
In my first real-time role as a writer, a job that went on to change my life, I got the job not because I was the most skilled. Apparently, it was my employee’s first impression of me that landed me the job. Sure I had potentials, but before then I had never published a piece. I knew for a fact that they were people who had more experience than me present in the interview, but i still got the job.
That job went on to become the foundation for my writing business today.
Another thing about first impressions is that it comes from a collection of body language, spoken words, and voice tone. According to Craft-cv, the collection ratio is 55% body language, 38% tone of voice, and 7% spoken words.
So, why does it matter so much?
Every day we make contact with people for the first time. It happens so often we don’t remember these encounters. However, with every meeting comes an opportunity or a possibility. No matter the time or place, you could be meeting a potential client, lover, friend, or even an enemy for the first time.
Whether these connections are kept, or progress to yield fruit is all decided in the first few seconds of your meeting.
You might not have thought your first impressions matter or that always trying to make a good first impression means acting fake. Well, it matters, and it does not in any way mean you’re acting fake.
Now, how often do you make an excellent first impression? How often are you conscious of the impression you make at the first meetings? If the answers are negative, you might want to re-evaluate your people’s skills and start making the most of your everyday life with great first impressions.
