To successfully gain the upper hand in today’s fiercely competitive market, every element of your professional career and image must be honed to perfection. To help establish your credibility and trust among the people in your field, three main elements are fundamental in order to achieve a successful personal image: appearance, behaviour, and communication. In fact, these three aspects are crucial if you aim to manifest your personal goals and visions through your personal image.
Appearance
First impressions are very important. People will very quickly make assumptions based on your personal appearance, including the clothes you wear, how well-groomed you are, your facial expressions and body language.
Professional Dressing & Grooming: Perhaps, certainly the easiest one to change, the most obvious element of personal appearance is what you wear and how well-groomed you look. Your appearance is a reflection of your own self-esteem. Thus, depending on your professional, events you attend, organization you represent, you should aim to present yourself to your best possible advantage. Good grooming and a tidy appearance is always preferable, at least you should be clean, your clothes should be clean and ironed, and that your hair should be tidy, whether casually or more formally dressed.
Body Language: Your posture, body movements, and whether you maintain eye contact will affect the way people view you. If your movements are smooth and if you don’t appear to be in a hurry, you will come across as more relaxed, calm, and confident.
Facial Expression: Your external image is how you are seen by the world, whereas the real you is someone who is honest with themselves. Indeed, little can be done to alter your face, but a lot can be done about the expression that is on it. It is your responsibility and only you can do it—to yourself as well as to the organisation that you represent—to convey a calm, friendly and professional exterior, whatever you may feel inside.
Behaviour
Minding your manners is self-explanatory. If you treat people well, they will feel more comfortable with you. When interacting with people, the key is to present integrity, personality, and an unshakable character in a professional way.
Communication
As communication is extremely important in creating a successful personal image, to be excellent in communication, you need to be a great listener. Being a great listener means that people will appreciate their conversations with you while making small talk puts them at ease.
Moreover, it is also important to note that, when it comes to communication, your online presence and how you communicate on your social media is as crucial as your communication in the real world. Having an effective avatar is an important way for you to present yourself or your company’s image.
Summary
In a nutshell, the way you handle yourself in public and around your peers says a lot about your character. While putting yourself in the mindset for achieving your goals, keep improving your personal image by conditioning your appearance, behaviour and communication.
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