Ask Yourself, "How Do People Experience Me?"

I'm reading the Wall Street Journal yesterday and almost the entire MarketPlace section is devoted to an article on "The XX Factor: What's Holding Women Back?" 

It's an interesting read, broken into numerous subsections. One of the subsections offers a Tool Kit for society and individuals on how to encourage more/better participation by women in the economy. Under the header Personal Strategies: Tools for the Individual, one of the recommendations is that women do Self-Assessments.

"Regularly consider, 'How do people experience me? Am I a game changer and value creator who builds trusting relationships?'"

I immediately flashed onto an encounter I had about a month ago. While at the gym, a friend introduced me to a friend of his. I said hello and stood around and had maybe a 5-minute conversation with both men before saying goodbye. The person I'd just met friended me on Facebook and within two days sent me the following cartoon:

This cartoon encapsulates my personality in a way nothing ever has before. I am super competitive over stupid things. Although I usually treadmill at my house, I'm positive if I were at the gym I would be glancing at the person's treadmill next to me, eyeing their speed and incline, making sure I'm keeping pace with them, and building this whole fantastic competition up in my mind while in truth, the other person isn't paying any attention to me.

So to return to the question, "How do people experience me?" the answer would appear to be, "Pretty damn accurately." I love that it took a 5-minute meeting and a day on Facebook for this guy to nail my personality. 

Now I just need to work on people experiencing, let's say, happier or more positive aspects of my personality. To date, no one has yet sent me a cartoon of a person hugging a friend or helping an elderly person cross the street and said, "Ooh, this is so you!" 

It's coming though. It's coming.

Cheers,

Dena