What is Image?

 An Image is not a photograph. Neither is it some sought-after aura we only see around celebrities.

An Image is the picture another person has of us. It can change, it can grow and it can occupy so much mind-space that we naturally become top of mind recall.

Image is another word for appearance.

The elements of Image or appearance include clothing, grooming, and body language including etiquette.

Image is the physical representation of who you are and what you are all about—your attitudes, appearance, and actions. Everyone produces an Image, consciously or unconsciously.

Image is all that an individual projects consciously or unconsciously—the way you look, care for, and carry yourself, your personal style, poise, and presence. It’s part of who you are.

Image is all that an individual reflects consciously or unconsciously—who you are on the inside, your personality, values, attitudes, interests, abilities, uniqueness, roles, and often your goals. We call this “Image from the inside out.”

Image is all you project or reflect about yourself. To project an Image implies purposeful, pro-active, conscious behavior. To reflect an Image implies passive, unconscious behavior, but nonetheless effective. Image reflects the condition of the body, mind, and spirit. (Heart and mind)

Image “proclaims the man” or woman wrote Shakespeare.

Your Image influences public perception of you, perception that results in an impression of you. Your Image is you in the eyes and minds of others. Image becomes your identity. You are assessed, evaluated, judged based on the Image you project or reflect. Assessment is automatic, occurs in seconds, and influences the achievement of your goals.

The elements of Image or appearance include clothing, grooming, and body language including etiquette. They function as visual, non-verbal communicators. They are stimulating cues, clues, symbols, and signs to be assessed or judged mostly on what we do not say!

“Right or wrong, the way a person looks is the only yardstick you have for measuring people who want your trust even though you don’t know them very well,” wrote Erma Bombeck

Going further, Image is both a perception and a conception. Perception: An immediate, automatic, intuitive awareness or recognition generated by a stimulating cue, as in a person’s appearance. Conception: A mental awareness, idea, representation, or picture, as in a person’s visual Image formed in the mind of the viewer, becoming your identity, your reputation.

Image becomes a shared perception among viewers which will provoke a shared collective conception—judgment, assessment, impression.

Stimulus Cue + Receptor (Viewer) = Perception

Everyone has an Image. Everyone stimulates or provokes an impression in the mind of the viewer—yourself and others.

Your Image is continually at work. You can’t hide it. It can work for you or against you. Your Image can be a major asset in achieving your goals or it can be a tremendous liability that holds you back without you ever knowing why.

Image is always relative to the time, place, and occasion or purpose.

Image is dynamic, always changing. Change the cue or clue, change the Image, change the impression, and change the interaction. It happens.

Image is all the non-verbal communication that you do on a daily basis. During the first few seconds after meeting someone, you are communicating a wealth of information about yourself, true or not.

If your outer self, your clothing, grooming, or body language is reflecting or projecting a false impression of who you truly are, then it’s time to make a change for the better Change your looks, change your life!