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The night before my final interview presentation for a manager position, my boyfriend of 5 years broke up with me. Though I wasn’t really surprised about his decision because we had been trying to make things work for a couple of months already, it still hurt. A lot.
And though I cried myself to sleep that night, I was still determined to get up the following day and show up at the office with one goal in my mind – get promoted.
“You can’t touch a woman who can wear pain like the grandest of diamonds around her neck.”
The next morning, I reported to work as if nothing happened. I pretended I was okay. I entered the boardroom with my head held up high, a big smile and a faith in myself that I was the one who deserved the job (after all, I deserved a good break, right?).
After the presentation, all the applicants were asked to wait for about an hour for the results. Well, it felt like forever for me because I was trying to hold back my tears while blocking my thoughts from thinking about the break-up.
When the panel came back and announced my name as the new manager, I couldn’t help but cry. It was a little embarrassing but I just told them it was tears of joy and that I was just so happy that my efforts were appreciated.
Getting off to a good start is not always as easy as it seems. Sometimes, it takes more than just a smile to hide your pain, fears and insecurities. So, here are other ways to nail that first encounter and REALLY make the best impression.
Always Be In Control Of Your Life
Ladies, you have the ability to control your destiny and make things happen by believing that you are responsible for your decisions and that you have the power to influence the events in your life.
When things don’t go as planned, don’t just sit around feeling sorry for yourself or blaming others for your misery. Instead, rise up to the occasion and show everyone that you are the one in charge of your life. Leave nothing to chance when it can be controlled and avoid relying on others if you can do it by yourself.
Be In Charge, but not Too Dominating Over Others
Writer Monica Gabriel Marshall tells you how to avoid intimidating your date and how to skip that one-sided conversation for something more meaningful and satisfying.
Use of leading questions, volunteering information and filling in the silence with positive gestures like taking a sip of wine, smiling and leaning in slightly will help you set up a comfortable mood and inspire your date to ask a few questions about you.
Don’t Put Other People Down to Lift Yourself Up
Ladies, remember that words that come out of you are a reflection of you. So, keep your class and always take the high road by not bad-mouthing other people.
I’m sure you have encountered, or you have been victimized by a lot of “crap-talkers” out there, who find satisfaction saying something nasty about others in their absence. In my opinion, this kind of behavior is an indicator of two things, either they’re jealous or they’re weak.
Talking Trash About Others Never Turns Out Well
For instance, one of the biggest mistakes you can ever do in a job interview is to bash a previous employer.
While I was still working in the corporate world, I had the chance to help out Human Resources in the screening process. I encountered an applicant who couldn’t stop himself from ranting about how fed up he was with his current company.
Although I sympathized with him, I still ended up not recommending hiring him because I didn’t think that he was ready for the job. He gave me the impression that he was just desperate to take any type of job to use as an escape route.
MakeIt a Habit to Keep Yourself Healthy
Ladies, love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle. Avoid activities and bad habits that can harm your well-being. Bear in mind that your health is your vehicle to your dreams. If you don’t take good care of it, it could hinder you from going after what you want.
So, sweetly sip your way to health in no time by drinking this Golden Milk, which is a combination of turmeric, coconut milk and coconut oil. It’s an anti-depressant, de-bloater, and weight-loss-boosting drink in one.
Tune Your Social Skills
If you always feel that people are watching you and judging you all the time, then girl, you definitely have some confidence issues!
Improve your social skills by spending more time talking to people. Sometimes, how other people treat you is based on the impression you give them. When they feel that you’re tense, insecure, or scared, they could either feel awkward about you or take advantage of you.
Project confidence and cover-up your little worries by wearing a wonderful smile and perhaps, a nice dress that is perfect for the season.
When summer humidity sets in, one of the greatest confidence-killers are clothing that shows wet armpits. To avoid this embarrassing situation, check this out – “How to Dress for Extreme Humidity.”
We do need to vent our anger, but badmouthing others or constantly complaining is not healthy. I try to be more proactive; either by carefully letting the other person know about his/her bad behavior or find a solution to the situation. Good impression follows naturally.
Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. Putting yourself on the shelf is no way to recover from a breakup and succeed in the outside world. You have to pick yourself up no matter how hard it is in order to survive survive.
This really hits home to me because I have been in the writer’s shoes. It is a monumental task to paste a smile on your face and pretend that nothing is wrong when it feels like your world is crashing down around you. When you can mange to do it, you discover a wellspring of strength that you never knew you had.
Many things are bound to happen in a lady’s life and how she handles them will determine her relationship will all the people around her. Ultimately, the choices she makes will have a bearing on who comes into her life. It is really important to have a control on her life.
I have been in this situation too and it is very hard to act like everything is okay. I tend to put on a brace face in public and fall apart in private.
How do you exactly control yourself in such situation? That sounds like something you learn from experience, by telling yourself that it’s your life and managed to pass the hurdle well. Otherwise, it’s easy to blame ourselves over the disappointing result.
Improving your social skills is definitely the way to go. People will judge you on your etiquette and poise in stressful situations. Constant improvement in training yourself to be polite and thoughtful of others goes a long way.
It must have been a tough experience for you, considering the roller coaster of emotions that you were experiencing. They say that whereas tough times may not last, tough people indeed do. Despite all that happens around our lives, there is always a need to create a good impression while taking charge of our lives.
I was going through a terrible family situation last year. During one of my lowest points, my best friend said to me “Life sucks, but you don’t” and it stopped me in my tracks. I was internalizing the situation so much that I was starting to make the situation part of my identity. That one comment literally put the brakes on, and from that moment forward, I no longer made the situation I was in part of who I was. It wasn’t me, and I refused to let it define me!