The 7 Seconds That Change Your Life.

What do you believe about this guy?

Do you have an impression about what kind of person this girl is?

We make decisions about how we believe a certain person will think, speak, act, their personality and so much more with very little data, all the time. Some studies say it’s less than 7 seconds. Other’s say it’s actually in the first 1 or 2 seconds within seeing and interacting with another human being that we make judgements about his or her character that will remain unchanged for the duration of our relationship with them.

That’s terrifying.

Especially considering that as a society we embrace the ability challenge social norms in terms of dress, style, and commonly held beliefs. In short, we’re free to look and speak almost however we want. However we are increasingly being judged because we make use of these freedoms. People on a date often decided whether or not there will be a second date within the first few minutes. You can lose a job as walk through the door of the interview. Like it or not, there are a few “rules” that govern our interactions with others that we should be aware of.

THE CLOTHES STILL MAKE THE MAN

There are new “norms” for what certain clothes represent now, however what you wear definitely say something about you. What does you think your favourite outfit communicates about your personality to the world? He’s fun? She’s confident? He doesn’t care? Especially on days when we’re making a presentation or meeting new people the choice of what we put on from our closets can be a game changer in how we are judged.

HOW YOU SAY HELLO MATTERS.

The very first words out of our mouths will solidify the thoughts the person we are greeting has already assumed us.  When you listen to a speaker give a talk, how long do you wait before you judge whether or not you are interested in what they have to say? For the average person, it’s well less than one minute. That first minute of any talk we ever have to give is vital for earning the attention of those who are listening to us.

IT MAY NOT BE POLITCALLY CORRECT, BUT IT’S TRUE

These ideas don’t seem fair. Obviously a smart person will dress down sometimes. A fun person might not always come across looking like the life of the party. You may have a wealth of knowledge to share, yet struggle to find the right way to verbalize it. That doesn’t mean you are any less intelligent. But we may never get the chance to show off all the great qualities we have about ourselves if we never learnt he age of lesson of the first impression.

And by the way

The first picture is of Brittany Wenger - a recognized leader worldwide in cancer research. He findings have revolutionized treatments of both breast cancer and leukemia.

The other guy with his feet up smoking a cigarette is a multi-millionaire blogger.

I’m not making up the rules, I’m just sharing what we’ve found to be true.