[MUSIC] I'd like to start this segment with a quotation from my favorite philosopher, Peter Drucker. Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities, because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values. Now this sounds contradictory for Peter Drucker to say, careers are not planned, but, what he means is you cannot plan the stages of your career. They're going to evolve, they're are going to be opportunities for you, and he wants you to be ready and set to take advantage of them. It's kind of like you know, someone standing on the balls of their feet. When an opportunity occurs, they can move in any direction to take advantage of it. This phase, this get set phase is the most important part of the whole course. As you're coming from get ready, which will help you improve your personal skills, through the get set phase to the go, this is the place we're really going to do the detail the work, to get the details in your personal onboarding plan you can take action on. That will help you grow in an actually spectacular way. While you're doing that, I found this other quote from the Harvard Business Review. It said, in the weeks leading up to your new assignment, carve out and hold sacred, at least 30 minutes a day to prepare. It's a great rule of thumb. It's hard to do, however. On my calendar, I have to take those little segments, and I have to post them way out in the calendar and do them for weeks ahead. You may have weeks. You may have six weeks to prepare for your next job. Think about how many days you can use to actually use the 30%, 30, 30 minutes. A second analogy, that you might want to consider. Is from the professional golf world. These Golfers spend weeks, years, perfecting their stroke on the practice range. However, when they go to the golf course, they still stop, and they visualize exactly how the shot is going to go, if they're shooting to the green with a long iron, for example. Their getting set. So before they address the ball, they're visualizing exactly what's going to happen. They do the similar thing when they're on the putting green. They take time, to look exactly, how the ball will roll, how they expect it to roll, hopefully, into the cup? Before they address the ball, and actually stand up and perform the putt. So the same idea works for you. If you can get set, addressing all the issues that you going to face, before you show up on your first day in your job. I think these two analogies may be useful to you. Think about, visualize your first day on the job. The things that are going on in the environment, the excitement, the drama, your first day there. There may be other people arriving on the same day. Think of the people you're going to meet, think of the things you're going to be talking about. Each of these will give you ideas of issues to address, before you show up. It will help you prepare a plan that is going to be extraordinary for you, and very effective for you when you show up for your first day. Steve had been at his job for about a year and a half, 18 months and he came to me and said Professor White I have this new opportunity. It's in a different division, totally new people that I haven't worked with before. What should I be thinking about? Should I dress differently? How should I get ready for that first day? I said, Steve, the fact that you've asked me these questions means that, you've solved most of the problem. You're 80% there, because you are already thinking about it, the activities and the ideas that you'll want to use, and you'll want to execute so that people will have the right impression of you when you show up on your first day. You're going to do just fine. Amy Cuddy's a noted Psychologist at Harvard, and she studied first impressions. And she's come to the conclusion that 80%, her research has shown actually, that 80% of first impressions are based on two factors. And let me read this quote to you. These variables account for about 80% of our overall evaluations of people. Do you want to move closer to them, or further away? And how do they show confidence? These shape our emotions, and our behaviors towards these people. So how do people experience you, or how do you want them to experience you? Do you want them to feel like, you want to come closer to you? And they're going to do that to the reaction, to your body language. To your smile. To your looking them in the eye. And when you smile, by the way, use your eyebrows. A full face smile is going to make the difference. You want people to experience you, so they want to come closer to you. You want them to, have you make them feel that you're confident. By the things you talk about, and about the way that you express yourself. Each of these can be practiced. You can get yourself ready to make that first impression, by simply thinking about those phrases, that attitude that you want to express on your first time on the job. So think about the two factors, warmth and confidence. They'll make all the difference in your first impressions. As you continue to prepare for your first time on the job, and to get ready. It's important you understand the logistics, that you will take advantage of to get to work on time. You do not want to be late for your job on the first day, people will remember that. If you're moving to a new city, it's important that you understand the options that are available to you. What mode of transportation will you use? What will be most comfortable for you? And obviously you want to take a test drive, and be sure you take a test drive at the right time. So here's some ideas to think about as you, as you think about your logistics. Determine your travel plans. Pick that mode that's going to be useful to you, and most important practice, actually try. And try during peak times, not during the off hours. You absolutely want to be totally comfortable, that you're going to arrive early for your first day. At the same time, check with your bosses, and understand what's expected on the first day? Will there be meetings? Will there be seminars? Will you be expected to participate in any particular arrangement? Have your mind ready for that, before you show up on the first day. As you are going through this get set phase, it's a good time to check your appearance. You know, Marla was so concerned how she looked, she kept asking her friends, does this look appropriate? Is this too much? To the point finally where her friends said Marla just relax. You are obsessing over your looks. It is important to look nice, but, just be your self. If you want to change, do just a little bit. You may want to change your hairdo, and your makeup. But, don't change it too dramatically. 'because it'll create just another variable you have to deal with, in a stressful situation of going to a new job. So as you're thinking about your, your new look, understand what business casual is. Understand the one, the business casual for your particularly the company, 'because it's quite different in each company. An idea that I think is useful, is to think about dressing like your boss. Your boss will be dressed typically, a little bit better than the, your colleagues. So, you want to look like your boss, more than to look like your colleagues but don't overdo that. If your boss is the only person, or the boss is the only people that wear ties, you are not going to wear a tie, 'because your colleagues are not wearing ties. But, think about how you can dress up slightly from the normal. As you are getting ready with your new apparel, get feedback from someone. Let them tell you exactly, how you look and whether it looks like it's appropriate or not? For those of you who don't have anybody, that can give you feedback in personal, in personal basis. There's a new app for your phone where you actually take a selfie, send it to a group of people who are couture experts, and they will feedback on how you look. Pretty cool idea. And last, check your body language. Are you comfortable in groups? Do you get nervous? Do you have nervous tics? Think about those things you'd like to improve, when you're meeting your new friends. I've stressed the importance of being mindful, of how people experience you. Because to them, perceptions are reality.
