When you watch TV or listen to the radio, how long is it before you to decide whether or not you like the programming?  Seconds, perhaps?  That's exactly how long you have before others form an impression of you.

First impressions are crucial because they set the stage for future conversations, relationships, and business.  Face-to-face communication matters, but so do all the other ways we send messages about ourselves.  Consider what your cell phone ring says about you?  What about your voice-mail message, posture, and handshake?

When it comes to your image, be proactive.  Determine how you want to be perceived rather than wait to be labeled.  Choose three descriptive words you'd like others to associate with your name, and then consciously behave and speak in ways that support those descriptions.  Here are ten more success tips from Positive First Impressions:  83 Ways to Establish Confidence, Competence, and Trust, by Susan Fee...

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appeared in Training + Development, April 2005