Lasting Impressions
Dressed in red, bald, a perfectly cut fu manchu style goatee and an air of absolute superiority. Seeing Ming the Merciless as a young child in Flash Gordon scared me to death. His presence absolutely enchanted me with fear and I instantly wanted Flash Gordon to succeed and beat Ming (despite being just human and a good football player) Today the actor who played Ming, Max Von Sydow passed away at the age of 90. He played a huge array of different characters and made me think how he had such a long career.
Then I think of the power of a lasting impression. After the come down wore off from the Vogue Ball I thought long and hard about it. I thought about the number of times many people wrote me off on sight. Tall, stocky, long hair, slightly odd walk aren’t always inviting. However, I also know exactly what to offset all those disadvantages. Positive eye contact, open posture, a sense of humour and what people call ‘charisma’ but I would call it graciousness.
I learnt that especially in my time at Impact Hub Birmingham, even thought I’m quite an introverted extrovert. I have a limited amount of extroversion but I learnt to preserve the few bits of extrovert energy and use them properly. Then I learned to do so among a community of creators with different points of view but then have various intersections of opportunity to aid others in their ideas and vice versa.
To sum up, lasting impressions can stick a lot longer than you think. Especially when there’s a digital footprint of data it can be elongated. Same with misinformation about what other people ‘say’ you did when you know for certain you either never said it or it’s long forgotten in your head.
Also, being a good person helps in the long run.
Until next time #embraceinfinity folks.
