You are being perceived, either positively or negatively, every day of your life.
Others are constantly viewing and making judgments of you. The impact of this perception can happen quickly; it takes only a few seconds to form an opinion. Even though you don't have control of how others view you, you do have control over your actions, which can substantially affect others' perceptions. This is "the power of thinking without thinking," as Malcolm Gladwell describes subconscious mental processes in his bestseller Blink.
You can't influence someone's perception 100 percent of the time. Recognizing this limitation helps you accept the circumstances when you encounter people who simply won't change their perceptions of you.
The power of perception is important because it completely determines how people view you, and therefore, how they act toward and around you. Proactively shaping others' perceptions of you is a key strategy for standing out, gaining credit for your work, and utimately, achieving career advancement.
So, how do others see and create an opinion of you? Perception is affected by a variety of factors, including:
What people notice about you.
The behaviors that make an impression.
The image you project.
The attitudes you project.
The opinions you hold.
You need to be honest with yourself about who you are before you can focus on the way you want others to perceive you. You can begin by conducting a candid assessment of your true skill level. By comparing the way that others perceive you with your genuine skill level, you can determine whether your current ability corresponds to where you want to go.
Once perception has started, the reality of what you see begins to take effect. This provides a level of certainty. Once the perception becomes the reality, the person begins to think that this is what he or she actually believes, and develops faith and confidence in this belief. The final step occurs when one considers the perception to be truth. The truth provides such certainty for a person that it makes it difficult to change or alter the perception that one has created.
Take Action Now
Consider how others perceive you both positively and negatively.
Conduct an assessment of your skill level wherein you honestly analyze your skills in terms of where you are and where you want to be.....to determine how best to close the gap.
Review all of your social networking sites from two perspectives. First, make sure you portray yourself as you want to be perceived. Second, make sure you represent your company's image appropriately.
At one time or another, all of us have dreamed of becoming a heroine, a celebrity, a VIP, or someone else who stands out above the crowd. We know we have talent but we often resist taking a chance or going after our dream.
Sometimes life seems like a runaway train that we are scrambling to catch. We have to discover the way we want to live our lives for ourselves! The first part of the discovery process is to learn about who we are. We need to become the Lewis and Clark of our own personal territory, discovering our strengths, weaknesses, triggers, motivations, tendencies, skills, goals, hopes, wishes, expectations, and themes.
Early in our lives, we understand that we have a personality unique from everyone else’s. Later we’ll understand that personalities are shaped by our genetics, our personal life experiences, and the manner in which we interpret those experiences. Life is one long succession of learning experiences—and all too often we have to repeat the same lesson over and over again before we learn it by heart.
Women need to do what they do best. To find out more about yourself, read the book "Women, Know Thyself: The most important knowledge is self knowledge." Limited time offer: This ebook is free at Amazon.com on Valentine's Day and the day after only. "
Sources: Joel A. Garfinkle: Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level
John G Agno: Women, Know Thyself: The most important knowledge is self-knowledge.
Marcus Buckingham: StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution