I love all things digital. I admit to getting a bit geeked out over a cool new App or some new techie tool designed to make my life easier. But when it comes to standing out from the crowd and making a good impression the best and simplest way is by indulging in one or more of these good old-fashioned human tricks.
1- Say what you'll do and do what you say. A lot of people will tell you what they are going to do, but the fact remains that very few follow through.
2- Be on time. This is one of my pet peeves. Just ask my NYU students. For that matter ask anyone who knows me. I'm always on time. For two reasons. I consider your time valuable and do not want to keep you waiting. The second is I consider my time valuable too.
3- Listen. Actively and with interest. Most of us don't listen very well. We're off in that delusion that multi-tasking is cool. So why just sit and listen, when I can listen and check my emails or texts at the same time. The message you send is that the person in front of you is just not that important. Worse, they are likely to be telling you information that could help you, but you will never really know because you were only hearing, not actively listening.
4- Ask questions. We're all so busy talking today we forget to ask questions of the person in front of us. Asking questions shows interest in the other person. It builds relationships. It makes you different.
5- Do your homework. So, so easy to do today. But so many fail to do it. Just type it into Google. Check a Twitter feed. I never meet with anyone new without first checking out their LinkedIn profile.
6- Be authentic. I'm talking true authenticity. Not the staged kind. Corporate speak is so very 20th century.
7- Smile. It changes everything. We've gotten so used to staring at our computer screen that sometimes we forget how to emote when in front of another human. We forget what a lasting impression one smile can make.
note: This is Day #28 of the 30 Day Experiment. Here are the details on how it all started.
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