Whether you're an advocate for 'not judging a book by its cover' or not, first impressions do matter. When we see, associate with or come across a person for the first time, our brains develop an opinion or data file for the person before we can control ourselves. Therefore, it's all we see or hear at that instant that we use to form opinions of a person.
If we don't see that person again, when someone asks us what we think of that person, we render this opinion to them
You can thus infer that a first impression formed can uplift or damn a person, depending on what we see in that person. I once met a guy who disclosed (during a casual discussion among boys) that he usually gave his father a *padded school fees amount when his father asked.
*padded: If his actual school fees amount was $50, he would tell his poor old man $80.
Sometime later, one of my friends wanted to enter a small business venture, and wanted to partner with that guy. He asked me about it, and you can correctly guess what I did. Why would I keep a bunch of bananas in front of a monkey and expect to come back and meet it untouched/ If he was hardhearted enough to dupe his own father, was there any doubt that he wouldn't swindle my friend?
The fact is that whether we know it or not, we actively or passively contribute to others' first impression of us. From our looks, our dressing, our way of talking and our ideals towards life, we show others what to expect of us, and ultimately, the kinds of VALUES we have.
And our VALUES make us who we are, in case you aren't aware.
We should be careful how we act, what we wear, how we talk, and how much of our beliefs we reveal when we're meeting people for the first time. It might just be a joke (like it probably was for that guy), but in the end it may end up being quite an expensive one. The kind of limited edition expensive jokes we can't afford to have.
Let us be more conscious of how we present ourselves everywhere, first impressions do matter. No one cares if anyone is judging anyone by the cover, you could seal opportunities and close doors for yourself by the first impression you give others of you, no matter how much potential you possess.
Think about it!
Yep. First impressions matter a lot