A fresh start.
I speak with high school students four to five days a week about college interviews, time management, public speaking skills and so forth. However, my favorite topic to chat with them about is life's biggest do-over...their freshman year of college.
I remember driving up to Marist College in the family station wagon with our entire family. I'm the oldest, so taking me to college was a family affair. The entire ninety minute drive, my father was giving me tips about how to be successful and what pitfalls to avoid. "Don't get caught behind the eight ball!"...and so forth.
Being the typical eighteen year old know-it-all, I rolled my eyes at a lot of it.
All I could think about was would I be accepted? Would my roommates be freaks? Would I make friends? Would I be able to make it?
However, he caught my attention with the last thing he pointed out.
He said, "Your freshman year is a clean slate. Nobody knows you here. When you set foot on that campus you have the opportunity to be anyone you want to be. It's up to you how people perceive you. There are no pre-conceived notions about who you are. It's a do-over and it's entirely up to you."
This was an ah-ha moment.
He was absolutely right and it's even more important for today's Digital Natives to understand. The bulk of our communication with other people is non-verbal and yet most give little thought to how they're using it. It takes less the thirty seconds to make an impression on someone and in those thirty seconds it's highly likely we're not saying a word. People form opinions based largely off of what they see. Is it fair? Nope. However, it's very real.
Digital Natives, as a generation, are behind the curve on their non-verbal communication skills. It's the students who have a high Non-Verbal IQ who are going to stand out from the crowd and achieve true success. The students who walk tall, make eye contact, smile and shake hands...they're the ones who will rise to the top.
So how about you? How's your Non-Verbal IQ?
