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When people meet you, you only have a few seconds before they make up their minds about you.
Some studies show you actually have LESS THAN A SECOND. And then you're stuck with that first impression. And if it was a bad one ... well, that sucks for you.
You see, making decisions is hard work for your brain. It takes a lot of energy, and your body hates spending energy you don't have to! So, your brain likes to take shortcuts.
Here's the shortcut: As soon as it makes a decision ONCE, it will stick to that decision until it's absolutely forced to change. This means that once you make an impression of someone, you stop seeing and judging the actual behavior of that person - you start seeing and judging YOUR IMPRESSION of that person.
It's like this: you see them, you make up your mind about them, and then you make a mask for them to wear. And after that, you only see the mask - not the real person behind it. You'll only see the real person again if they do something drastic that really tears off the mask.
When you're meeting someone, you want to make sure that the mask they're making FOR YOU is one that you'll be pleased to wear.
When you meet someone, they'll sort you into 1 of 4 categories:
1. Friend category. If you've ever met someone and instantly liked them and been drawn to them, this is the category you sorted them into. This is the category that you want to fall into for social and professional advancement!
2. Predator category. If you've ever met someone and disliked or even feared them, this is the category where you sorted them. If you're walking alone on a dark night, then getting sorted into this category will make sure people leave you alone.
3. Potential romantic partner. If you've ever met someone and thought, "Wow, you are so attractive. Please ask me out," this is that category. If you're single, this is a great category to fall into - but if people place you in this category, you may have a hard time working with them professionally.
4. Indifferent category. This is where we put most of the people we meet - they won't improve our odds of survival, and aren't a threat to us either, so our brain basically deletes them. If you've ever met someone and forgotten their name, face, business, etc, then this is the category you sorted them into. So if anyone has forgotten YOU, then you know this is where you've been sorted - and that's bad for business!
In this video, I dive into the categories in further detail, and give you free tips and tricks for controlling which category YOU fall into!