What’s the first impression you want to give people?

I have a love/hate relationship with attention. I don’t actively seek it out but I don’t try to hide either. It leaves me with mixed feelings about the first impression I want to regularly give off. It also affects your reputation, which can further compound on first impressions.

At work I like to just do my job, and do it well enough that people see me as competent, knowledgeable, and resourceful. Then I can build a reputation that people can trust me. This also conflicts with my earlier sentiment of not seeking out attention, because as much as I want to be helpful, I’m careful to not advertise my skills too much or else I’m liable to get too many requests for help with things that people are supposed to know how to do on their own (rather than taking the easy way out and just asking me.) It’s a challenge to balance.

Outside of work? I’m naturally reserved and keep to myself, which makes it easier to avoid attention. However, I still do have to interact with people at some point, so I do my best to be polite and offer a smile. This way I can hopefully give the first impression of being nice and courteous. Doing this has led me to believe a few different things. That I’m making a positive impact on them, or at the very least avoiding negative impact. They’re also more likely to return the courteousness, and people generally don’t look twice at you so you can just get on with your day without added attention. Unlike being negative, which seems to have a stronger impact/leaves a more memorable impression.

So, to summarize what the first impression I want to give people is that of a nice “background character” type, and not someone who constantly wants to be in the limelight.