That might be a tough one to answer. You’d like to say “yes,” but you need to really effectively reflect to know the true answer. And why do you care, anyway? How often do you hear people say…I don’t care what other people think about me. The truth is, they do care and they should.
I recently had the opportunity to listen to Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist for Apple and current best-selling author, talk about how to enchant people. It sounds a bit mystic at the onset, but in reality it’s pretty straight forward.
Be likeable. If you are, it makes people want to deal with you. And because new client opportunities, challenging job options and stimulating work assignments all result from relationships, you’ll want to perfect how likeable you are.
I’m not telling you that you need to change who you are, but you can try adding or enlarging how you handle a few aspects of your daily life to add positive dimension, impacting how likeable you are.
You like me because:
1) Smile often – smiles truly are contagious. Remember the last time you started laughing at someone else laughing and you didn’t even know what the original source of humor was. And smile big, with your eyes!
2) Accept others, no matter what. Liking you means accepting the things that are less than desirable, so do the same for other people. Even if it’s challenging. You might develop a really meaningful relationship as a result.
3) Default to yes. Not no, as we’re all well accustomed to. Approach things collaboratively, with a win-win approach. Sometimes yes means a new opportunity for you too.
Take a quick assessment by asking others why they like you. Listen to the common patterns and then measure it with what you self-assess about your likeability. And ask the difficult questions too. Ask the person who you have struggles with, why you are challenging to work with. Being challenging doesn’t mean you aren’t likeable. But the more likeable you are, the more you’ll get the opportunities, relationships and experiences you seek.
