As a teenager, I was working in a bowling. One evening, my boss looked at me, and asked me if everything was fine: she saw that I had red eyes. I knew what she had in mind: is Fred smoked weed before his shift? I didn’t know why my eyes were like this, but the truth is, I never consumed any drugs, so it wasn’t about what she was loudly thinking.
At that time, my boss perceived me as someone who was doing drug. She judged me on some facts, on what she saw, from her experience, and her belief. She could have been right, but she wasn’t. What does that experience teach me? That it’s about how people perceive you!
I can’t care less about what people think about me: don’t get me wrong, I like it when someone appreciates me, and give me good feedbacks (feel free to do it, haha). On the other side, if you don’t like me because I’m who I am, I don’t care: again, that doesn’t mean I don’t like constructive feedbacks on what I do. It’s a bit frustrating, when you think about it, that sometimes it’s less about what you do, then how people see you.
When people look at you, and think about you, it’s based on what they know, what they see, and their ideas. It may be false or true, and you can influence this by managing your brand, and being proactive, but in the end, you’ll be that person they want you to be…
