Perception is simply the way you think about something and your idea of what it is like. Think about it this way; If a baby sees a pen, the first instinct is to put it in his/her mouth. If an adult sees the same pen, the first instinct would be to pick it up and write a word with it.

Perception can be influenced by lots of things, which is why it’s never factual. Some people even describe perception as leaky. As a person who codes, writes, or designs, perception is one of your greatest assets if you want to influence your audience.

People believe that something that only does one thing is better at that thing than something that does that thing and something else.

Going on a 2-hour road trip without your phone and someone to speak to for the entire ride would be hell for you. But if at the beginning of that road trip, you had your phone and decided to watch a 2-hour-30 minutes movie, at the end of the trip you’d end up saying something like – ‘Oh wow, that was fast. Didn’t even finish the movie’.

Notice that the journey didn’t become shorter but your perception of it was influenced by an external factor – The movie. This is why Airplanes have monitors to watch movies and listen to music, it’s also why many Trains have Wi-Fi on them.

Lessons

A lesson for you as someone who builds solutions for people and brands is that if you can’t make the journey shorter, make it enjoyable. People will forget about how long it took them to arrive at their destination.

I once read that ‘People believe that something that only does one thing is better at that thing than something that does that thing and something else.’ Whatever you’re working on, be as specific as possible. Even if you aren’t the best at it, people would assume you are. Simply because that’s all you do.

Summary

In summary, whatever you commit your time to, ensure that it’s not only valuable but people perceive it as such. So I’m asking, if I were to meet you today and speak with you for 5 minutes, what would my perception of you be like? If I were to hire you for a role, I wouldn’t hire you because of the real you. I don’t know the real you. I would hire you based on what I think of you.

Your job is to always sell yourself in ways that influence people’s perception of who you really are.

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