im glad ive learned this.. your turn

did you know that people often make judgements about you within 10 minutes of meeting you, sometimes its even three minutes. this is important! first impressions make decisions. who are you friends with, who will you hire, who do you want to work with, who do you want to babysit your kids? first impressions help make these decisions. but first impressions can be the least thought of if you have the opportunity to show a different impression next time. sometimes people wont let you, after a bad first impression they go to ultimate avoidance and dont give you the opportunity. i dont think ive ever really thought too much about first impressions until this year, where i have suddenly developed this determination to change a groups impression of someone else.

this year im in a new program at school and i swear it is the most diverse group of people ever. it is also the most cliquey group of individuals i know.. basically everyone chose their group within 1 day.. maybe 2 days of classes and sit with that group in all our classes. im one of them, i'll admit (and i love the group i sit with).  we are however, placed into work groups in each of our classes and these groups are normally not chosen, they are assigned in some way. as much as it sucks to get a bad group, i think its a great way to un-clique (or un-click.. if you are american). so anyways.. there is this guy (i'll call him tim) who i have gotten to know fairly well and of course hes that guy who so bluntly does not care. my friends in class think hes dumb, he never shows up to class, he seems arrogant and thoughtless, lazy and snobbish. hes that guy that has to express his opinion in every class he actually does show up to and has the laissez-faire attitude that everyone hates! in social situations he is a complete jerk! but.. when you are forced to work in a group with him and actually have a small group or one-on-one conversation with him.. anything but lazy, thoughtless and arrogant present itself. hes creative, smart and funny. hes also an amazing writer, which i like. hes interesting and thoughtful. it just sucks that he acts so careless, developing bad judgments by everyone else. why tim, why!? when i meet a person like this.. i want others to see him this way too! but the only thing i can say to my friends is that they have to give him a chance.. i cant change their opinions even though i want too so badly. and i cant change him.. i cant tell him to be nice to everyone, attend class and just drop his opposing opinions once in a while!

i can't change anyone and i know this, but im creating an awareness.. in order to truly judge someone you need to give them more then one chance. giving them one chance to impress, i can guarantee, will result in you missing out on some of the most amazing people. some people surface act in social or stressful situations but its not who they are 96% of the time. try to talk to people one-on-one if they will let you.. judge them fairly on who they are, not how they appeared the first time you met him. you are doing your self a favour this way.