be the first to show up

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, an 18 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on productivity, health and tech, and drop unique opportunities in the space right to your inbox daily. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! 💌 

btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: be the first to show up 🥇 

first impressions are huge. for the longest time when applying for scholarships, internships, fellowships or anything of the sort, i always took the deadline as exactly that: the last day to submit. 📥️ 

it was only when i was on the other side of this process (reviewing applications others submitted to join my team) did i realize that your odds actually decrease the closer your submission is to the deadline. although that’s not true in all cases, it most definitely applies to opportunities offered by smaller orgs.

those first few applications leave a greater impression because the people reviewing have time to give your application more thought. closer to the deadline, there are a lot more resumes and essays to sift through so that means less time for yours. ⌛️ not only that, being amongst the first few submissions also sends a message to the reviewer that you have a bias towards action.

i like applying this practice to doing presentations as well (especially in school). volunteering to present first does 3 things for me:

1) my confidence translates to credibility → i must have some degree of confidence in order to voluntarily present first, so surely there’s something there worth listening to. 🤓

2) i set the bar for the rest of the presentations → if you’re confident in your presenting abilities, this works greatly in your favour since your presentation will be used as the standard for the rest.

3) i receive the best audience → i know we’re all guilty of our attention and energy dropping with each presentation we watch. 📉 if you go first, you get the audience’s highest level of attention, patience and interest.

it’s tempting to procrastinate and be comfortable with deadlines, but being the first to show up with applications, presentation opportunities, or even joining zoom meetings will make your first impression in each aspect of life 10x better.

it’s a small change, but it can do a lot in the long-run.

daily opportunity + resource drops 🔍️