There are some people whom you will remember better than they remember you, and there are some people who will remember you better than you remember them.
I’ve started to get some of the latter going on in my own life – mostly from M1s who met me on their interview day. I’ve introduced myself to people who then say “I remember you…you were my tour guide when I interviewed here.” And I’ll inevitably try to remember back to the day when I saw them, but it’s usually in vain.
The general trend is for the ratio to shift toward the latter as you get older. We’ve met more people, and as status (usually) increases with age it’s inevitable that more and more people will remember you better than you remember them.
Fight the trend. Strive to be impressed by just as many people as you impress.
This thought was inspired by a random hit on my facebook feed. I randomly ran across the profile of someone who was a beginner snowboard student of mine 2 years ago. I decided to glance at her interests just for fun, and whaddaya know, she still snowboards. After a day of pretty rough lows, it was uplifting to realize I had made a difference in someone’s life.
Thank you, Diandra, for helping me regain my faith in people. Even if I’d only lost it for a brief while.
