1st Impression, Last Chance!
A mistake that we do not want to make in life is to underestimate the impact that our first impression with someone can have on the person that we meet. Even though we feel that we may have plenty of time to make up for it, that won't change what a person learned when they first met us. Even if they claim to forget it may not be true. First impressions are usually when a person is paying the most attention and searching for flaws, so if we make a wrong move, it can be noticed BIG!
I can recall too many occurrences of this sort during my career as a bodyguard agent and trainer. Since I was also a world travelling professional fighter during this time, I was fortunate to meet and befriend several stars and high end individuals. Whenever one of my prominent friends would come to town I would contact the nightclubs that my trainees worked at and inform them that we would be passing through so to be on their best behavior because they could get pulled into a bodyguarding contract. This was nothing new to them because I taught this important lesson in the security training and certification course.
Well, regardless of my heads up to select agents who were informed that I would be speaking about and pointing them out for my friend to consider as a long term body guard, they wouldn't behave as such. It would always seem as if the security agents favorite song would come on and he would start dancing with a group of ladies like a moron as soon as we would come walking in the door. And please do not be mistaken that these were GOOD MEN who I trained and knew but at that moment it didn't matter. What my friend saw was a person who was neglecting his job for a party with ladies, the first time that he saw him. It would never wash away.
When someone makes a bad first impression it remains at the top of our head every time that we see them again. And even when they repeatedly do things that seem to make up for the bad first impression, we continue to look and wait for it to someday again surface. It can take a long time before we will choose to surrender our judgement to trust a person who once made a fool out of himself right in front of us. Because we KNOW that if we decide to forget about it and act as if it never happened, WE will be the idiot if he catches us off guard and does it again.
Holding a person accountable for the acts of their first impression is sensible as unfair as it may sound, because their improper act on that day immediately revealed that he or she is capable of that act again. And it would not make sense to position our self in an area where we could be harmed if he decided to do the act again that we know his already capable of.
The gifting of our trust to the person who delivered a bad first impression in our presence should be handled delicately, and without haste or coercion. It isn't unfair or unjust to be skeptical towards them because they screwed up. It's smart. Of course there is never need for insult, mistreatment or belittlement. Be decent and it is ok to remain on guard. And be sure to remember this when you are making your first impression towards others because they may think in this manner.
Through all of this finger pointing away from our selves in this read, I have to focus on the truth about you and me when it comes to us assuring to never make a bad first impression towards anyone. And as sensible as it is to want this I have to tell you that it is impossible! We can never assure that we aren't making a bad impression in front of someone that we know absolutely nothing about. We all root from diverse lives that are usually smothered in self righteousness and bias. The sound of your voice, your walk, your laugh, your food choice, your hairstyle, your politics, your hometown and more could be a bad first impression that you don't even know about so don't ever stress yourself. We will never have the ability to control or guide someone's thoughts about us. In fact, it is taught that no person that we know actually views us the way that we think they do, or how we view our self.
Now don't use this information of truth as a reason to be at your worse whenever you feel like it. I suggest that we always do our best to be presentable, courteous, open minded towards everyone that we meet and know. We still can ruin our current good relations by revealing that we no longer respect the thoughts of those who surrounds us. And there still is one person who's thoughts about us we can control and that must be taken into huge consideration always...
OUR SELF!
We all must rule self with strict order, accurate evaluations, honest feedback, and progressive, unforgiving, responses. We should be our worse critic and most supportive friend. And with an attitude like that towards our self, we will be more than presentable to good, decent people, and the right people for us will be drawn to us while no one will have to have a care about what someone else may or may not be thinking about them.
And THIS is a "way", ...of the "Warrior's Edge -Jermaine Andre'
