How to carry yourself with dignity and propriety within both professional and formal contexts. It is important to make good first impressions, and to retain these good impressions.
- Smile, if appropriate.
- Maintain a resting face that looks agreeable and pleasant, or at least not dead or actively hostile.
- Don’t wave your hands around a lot; hold onto a pen with both hands if you need help holding them still.
- Sit up straight around other people.
- Speak slowly and enunciate, and don’t mumble or let sentences trail off. To do this, plan what you say before you start speaking.
- Don’t use filler words such as “like” or “um”. If you need soundwaves to fill up the air while you gather your thoughts, speak slower and maybe verbally summarize / acknowledge what was just said to you.
- Don’t cuss unless necessary, but don’t make the person you are speaking to feel embarrassed for cussing if they choose to do so.
- Speak clearly and assertively yet calmly. See my article on clear communication.
Mistakes to avoid:
- Don’t speak a lot about negative things about yourself; don’t incessantly complain or behave as a chronic pessimist.
- Don’t speak about negative things about other people, unless commiserating politely with someone above your station.
- Keep your smartphone out of the way, and on silent if possible, because the vast majority of the time, constantly checking your phone will be interpreted as rude, lazy, and/or disrespectful.
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