The Diary
of
Anne Ku

6 November 2000 Monday

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The old adage "you can't judge a book by its cover" doesn't ring true. I'm sorry, but first impressions do count. How hard we try to disregard our gut feelings, to look for falsifying evidence, only to convince ourselves that we were right in the first place?

Do we subconsciously add up all those times that proved that we were right? How much have our first impressions influenced us later on?

My German friend once remarked how fascinated she was by my study of decision analysis. She made decisions intuitively. I understood "intuitively" to mean "gut instinct." That, to me, was not rational. However, gut feeling translates to faith and conviction, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So first impressions influence our gut feelings. Then we are led by that initial reaction. This is perhaps why we follow different dress codes. As a management consultant, I wore suits every single day. And now, as a freebird, I couldn't care less.

Yesterday

Tomorrow