First impressions are auditions. Watch for the third one, when they stop performing.

REFLECTION

WHAT THIS MEANS

Everybody arrives at a first meeting with their best angle ready. That is not fake, it is effort, and effort is hard to keep up. By the third or fourth time the performance gets tired and the actual person walks out from behind it, usually in small ways like how they talk about a waiter or what they do when plans fall apart. The later version is the one you will live with.

Hold off on the verdict after one good conversation. Let a few ordinary hangouts happen and watch who they are when nothing is at stake.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Who seemed different by the third time you hung out?

MORE IN PERCEPTION & ATTENTION

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.