“Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.” Wayne Dyer

Ok, so I met a lady recently, in her early sixties and dressed in a very ordinary way, quiet, harmless and unassuming.

She has a small business that she started recently and was networking to connect and grow her client base. I thought, great, that is good for her, almost disregarding her as we so often do when we stereotype ‘older people’ (I can relate as well, because I am no spring chicken).

LinkedIn

We met again in the week at my office to work on her LinkedIn profile, because that is what I do. I work with you to craft dynamic, SEO friendly and optimized professional and business LinkedIn profiles and build a lead generation strategy. Work with Me (shameless self-promotion).

So, we start our session by working through her goals and plans for herself and her business and what outcomes we want to achieve. We then move on to completing all the necessary categories and previous jobs and experiences,

Well, three hours later we were still busy. This woman is awesome. I was blown away by what she had done, what she had achieved in her life and what she still wants to do. Starting out with nursing to being a tax assessor and then owning and running a successful restaurant to being a paramedic for years and volunteering at the fire department. Then moving onto managing and consulting in the health and safety industry to developing and creating a training college and more… At the same time managing her family and household. Wow, I am inspired.

This lady is Kathleen Hill- Jowett and her current business is AlphaDigiPrinting. Check her out! She does sublimation printing and sewing and branded and promotional gifts.

Seriously, if you want a printing job done, go to Kathleen. She will get your work done on time and with the utmost detailed attention to quality and service.

First Impressions

So, this got me thinking about first impressions and how we judge people at face value.

» Why do we this? Is it social conditioning that tell us that only younger people have value to add and are more important?

» Why do we think age makes people less valuable?

» Why do people become invisible as they get older?

» Where do these prejudices come from?

I am not providing answers here but just something to think about. I know it has made me more open when first meeting new people and I think just that openness alone allows me to see beyond the physical to that person’s core and being.

Let’s let go of the contempt and impatience that we feel with someone older, or someone who might who might be a bit different to us. You might be presently surprised.

“Love is the absence of judgement.” Dalai Lama