For a whole bevy of reasons, I have been filling out a lot of bios on myself lately. I’m good at the basic stuff: name, birthdate, address, phone number, etc. What I struggle with are the “fun” questions. I mean, do people really care what my favorite food is? Do I even have a favorite food? I don’t think so, I’m a temperamental eater. Something that was my favorite food yesterday could be relegated to the back of the fridge or pantry the next.
To be completely fair, I like hearing the answers to other people’s fun questions. I just don’t like answering them myself. I like to think I know myself fairly well. And I know that I am someone who is terrible at providing concise information about myself. Want to know my favorite color? Me too. I know my two favorite colors, but I can’t tell you which one is actually my favorite,
It’s not like open-ended questions are any better. I hate the “is there anything else we should know about you” question. Of course there is more you should know about me. If you have to ask that question, chances are you don’t know me very well at all. A few sentences about me won’t do much to change the situation anyway,
But those few sentences do make a difference. I go to a lot (and I mean a LOT) of networking events. Many of them involve having people introduce themselves in turn. I have struck up some great conversations with people based on what they said in their introductions. And people have certainly approached me based on what I said in mine. And some of these conversations have led to actual friendships, not just business connections. That is the crux of my issue.
What I choose to say about myself in any given situation frames people’s first impression of me. Choose the wrong detail and there is an opportunity lost. And first impressions really do stick with people. There are some folks that I have been networking with for years who still remember how I first introduced myself to them. Fortunately for me, I made a positive impression on them. What about those people who avoid me because I was stressed or tired or in a bad mood when they first met me. They are walking around thinking that I am a perpetually grumpy person. But I’m not. I just have occasional bad days like everyone else.
Maybe I just need to spend more time coming up with the answers to the type of questions that worry me the most. Maybe if I thought up answers in the shower or while I was waiting for the bus, I would have ready answers for people. Regardless of how much sleep I got the night before.