It’s interesting how those memories stick and influence our current thinking, even when the evidence doesn’t match.
I was surprised by the question. In my opinion, client was very warm-quite likeable. It was my initial impression when we first met. When he described his interactions with his clients, it was obvious they too thought very highly of him from the first meeting, but because he was quite introverted and had been a bit of an outcast in his early years, he didn’t think he was likeable.
Our brains are powerful and the way he thought about himself would definitely have a negative effect when he was networking and meeting new people. His negative thoughts would create a self fulfilling prophecy, and as an entrepreneur who’s business thrives on building his network, he couldn’t afford to keep that mindset perpetuating.
Fortunately there are things we can do to make ourselves more likeable before ever saying a word, which will help to easily shift this kind of situation and get better outcomes as a result.
The power of your thoughts is an amazing thing.
What we think about ourselves directly affects the way people think about us. For example, in a study done by researches at the University of Waterloo and the University of Manitoba, they found that people who expected to be liked were actually liked by more people. These people who expected to be liked, acted more warmly toward strangers and because of that, those strangers were more likely to act warmly toward them.