Have you ever been introduced to someone who you share a common acquaintance with? Maybe your Family member introduced you to his or her co-worker? Or your co-worker introduced you to his or her spouse? The introduction normally goes a little something like this:

Aunt: (Insert Name), This is my niece/nephew (Insert Name).
Co-Worker: Oh, it’s great to meet you, I heard so much about you!

Then you think to yourself, what have they heard about me? What has my Aunt been saying? Have they really heard things about me or are they just trying to be cordial? I used to always think nothing of that statement, “I’ve heard so much about you” until I recently began to think about: 1) This person knows of/about me and this is my first time meeting them, 2) This person has an expectation of me based on what they have heard (whether positive or negative), and 3) generally speaking, people hear good or bad things about me regardless of if they directly know me or not; and its my job to either confirm or negate what they’ve heard upon me literally showing up in their lives.

Often the hard part about our reputation preceding us relies on what our common acquaintance may have experienced when in our presence. The message our common acquaintance may have delivered about us may have been in reference to the past us and not the present or they may have in fact heard about how we currently act (which may require some adjustments) either way our impressions run deeper than we may realize. This is why it’s important that we begin each day as a new day, we leave our past us behind (even if that past us is from yesterday). Let’s take advantage of each day, moment, second to build a lasting impression of positive thinking, encouragement towards ourselves and others, and positively impacting an ever changing world around us.

Today I encourage you and myself to be conscious of the impressions we leave behind. The example above was related to a relative but even for a stranger or someone we meet just one time. Let’s make sure the impression we leave is one that speaks about how we are in a positive, loving, inspirational, and Christ-like way; a way that positively impacts their live. We all have our moments or bad days when we are rushing from point A to B or when we may have been made frustrated by a person or situation but we shouldn’t carry those emotions of frustration, anger, etc. to the next person we encounter because our impression matter. Our impression makes a difference in the lives of others, even if we don’t realize it.

Until next week, KEEP GOING and STAY ENCOURAGED because your VICTORY is already WON!

Chanelle A. Watson
Author, Chef, & Entrepreneur
Inspirational & Motivational Enthusiast