Do you have a card?

I always preach the importance of being memorable.

I spend a good bit of time calculating ways of making sure that I "win" most of my first impressions. I assure you this is not something driven by ego or competition. By "winning", I want to make sure I take away knowledge from the conversation and I want to ensure that they remember me or things about me. Good things.  First impressions are important in business and in the general establishing of healthy relationships. Picking up takeaways in conversations not only help your relationship with that person, but also helps in future conversations with similar subject matter. (I've never ran a marathon, but I can talk about it because I know someone that has).

A few weeks ago I was at a radio industry event. I got to reconnect with a few people that I had not seen in a while and I also got the opportunity to meet others that I have never met. I don't traditionally hand out business cards. I always forget to load my wallet with them, but in all honesty, I don't really like the slightly pretentious act of the exchange. We are in a world of advanced technology and it's easier to pull someone up on social media than it is to remember to hang onto a piece of thick paper. I take cards more than I pass them out and within 24 hours, that person will almost always get an email from me. Unlike dating and waiting the mandatory 2 days before calling a girl, I immediately connect with the other person. In business and networking, (they go hand in hand) immediacy is important. 

At this event, I ran into a woman that I had only met once and it was about 15 years ago. We were introduced by a mutual friend and she and I then sparked up a great conversation with subjects changing every 3 minutes. (I was drinking gin and tonic, so that probably assisted in the flow of random topics). She then asked me "do you remember the first time we met"?  This is a memory skill I pride myself on, but honestly didn't recall the moment. I knew who she was and where she had worked. The radio and record industry is a small world and our business is very relationship based.

She said "you (meaning me) almost got us thrown out of an artist showcase because you were making my laugh so damn hard". She also followed with "you used to be fat". 

So, the two takeaways I left her with were that I was dangerously funny and fat. Got it. According to our first meeting and the impression that was left, for the past 15 years, I was Chris Farley. Not how I planned on leaving my mark in this world.

I'm not saying you should consume yourself with the concern of what others think. Not at all. Honestly, it's not a terrible thing to be a fat and funny guy, but are those the words you want chiseled on your headstone when they lower your huge body, that was placed Ina piano case, into the ground. Yeah, probably not. "He never met a joke or sandwich that he didn't love".

Having her remember me that way was much better than not having her remember me at all. Nothing is more deflating to the sails than to have someone not recall one single thing about you. Going to your 20 year reunion and not having anyone remember being is class with you would suck. (I mean you drove all that way). Being the date she doesn't remember isn't a healthy for your mojo.

Again, there is no need to obsess about this, but leaving the right impression is important. Taking up space in someone else's brain, for the right reason, may not be your biggest goal in life. Yet, if you're going to go through all these years on planet earth, you might as well be memorable. Memorable for all the right reasons.