Does it matter what people think of you?

In a word, yes.

It really does matter what people think of you and how you are perceived – but it shouldn’t be the be all and end all.

The reality of life is that most people can’t help but be affected by other peoples’ impressions of them and therefore how people react to them. If you are in a consulting/advisory/sales/leadership/parenting role, then it matters alot.

The important point to remember is that if you can control others’ perceptions of you, you can control how they react to you.

Consider that the way people perceive you may be very different to your self -perception. In fact, it’s often the case that your self-perception can differ quite radically to the perception others have of you. In some cases it’s quite striking because a person’s self-perception is that they lack confidence but the perception of others is that they are confident. So, these peoples’ self-esteem can sometimes be low for absolutely no reason!

Have you ever thought about how people perceive you?

Getting to the bottom of how you come across to people is key to being assertive, influential and confident at work. Once you know this, you can start to think about adapting your behaviour so that other peoples’ perception of you is what you want it to be. So to feel confident and to get people to listen to you, you need to know how you look and sound; you need to know how you come across.

If you really want to find out how others perceive you … go to http://www.think-confidence.com and complete the Reality Check – this is a free multiple choice questionnaire that others complete on you anonymously – you’ll have no doubt about whether your self-perception is the same as others’ perception of you once they’ve completed the Reality Check.