This doesn’t just apply to first meetings, this applies to all meetings. However, it is especially important for your first encounters with new or unfamiliar people and groups. What you focus on expands, and if you focus on what you want, you’re more likely to get it. Also, if you give yourself time to imagine how you would like an encounter to go, you are more likely to mentally prepare. And, preparation is the real key here.
This is especially imperative in a professional meeting. Make a list of at least 5 items you know you want to talk about in the meeting. That means writing them down. Now, go over that list three times, and then make sure you talk about them.
The most important part of all of this? Letting go of what you have envisioned before the meeting. That might seem counter-intuitive, but if you hold onto the result you are much more likely to come off as rigid or not present.
Don’t go into the meeting with an unreasonable expectation that it will all go exactly as planned. If you have that mindset, it definitely won’t. You will try to domineer the situation, even if just subconsciously, to fit the scenario you imagined instead of allowing the meeting to unfold with both people present.
However, by doing the imagination work ahead of time you will allow yourself to subconsciously prioritize what you will and will not offer up or bring to the conversation once you are actually there. In this way, you exude confidence without being cocky or domineering. Good job.
#highfive #goodjob #createyourownreality