How To Manage People's Perception Of YouUkážka

People see each other through colored glasses. What I mean is we filter, judge and label each other. We do it right away when we meet someone, and we keep doing it afterward.

So, if I know you, there is a version of you that I have defined. It is the you I perceive, the person I think you really are. This is your third self! 

Your third person is a version of you that another person creates from what they know and believe about you. 

There are lots of unique third-person versions of you out there, all slightly different based on other people’s varying perceptions and opinions. 

The problem is, my (and everyone else’s) perception of you isn’t always reality. It rarely matches the first person inside your mind – the private person hiding all those thoughts – and neither is it really the second person you mean for me to see in social media or smiling at church. 

So how can we possibly manage this third person? Do you think it’s worth it to even try to affect how people see us? Shouldn’t we just be who we are, and not care what people think? 

It’s definitely worth it. If we want to lead people, we need to get along with them!

Tomorrow we’ll look at a couple strategies for managing the identity of this third self.