Have you ever heard of a Hippocampus?  No, a Hippocampus is not a school for Hippopotamus.  The hippocampus is a major component of the brains of humans and other vertebrates.  It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long- term memory and spatial navigation.  Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in each side of the brain.

The hippocampus is closely associated with the cerebral cortex, and in primates is located in the medial temporal lobe, underneath the cortical surface.  It contains two main interlocking parts: Ammon’s horn and the dentate gyrus.

Hippocampus is the subconscious “impression holder” of the human mind – passion or emotion + purpose to the cognitive memory.

Here is how it works.  When an event takes place, your brain processes it and “parks” it at the door of the hippocampus.  In order to enter the hippocampus, it has to have two things associated with it.  One, there has to be emotion or passion associated with it.  Two, there has to be a purpose associated with it, meaning something significant is associated with the event.  If an event or very similar occurrences are repeated over and over, that information will be transferred to out long-term memory.  So, the next time a similar event takes place, we don’t go through the entire process of reliving that memory in the same way, we just start reacting.  Over time, whenever anything that is closely related to a past experience occurs, we will have the same response automatically.

So we read all of this technical information about the Hippocampus in order for us to focus on our “first impressions”.  First impressions register in our mind under 30 seconds.  When we meet someone for the first time, we make decisions and value judgments about our new acquaintance in an extremely short period of time.  30 Seconds.

If you decide that you should give the new CEO a chance since you report directly to her, you will need to reevaluate your first impression.  In order to undo or change a bad first impression we will have to have 20 additional encounters with your new acquaintance.  Twenty encounters to “change your mind”.

Beginnings now, consider “thinking” before you make a decision about your new acquaintance.  It will probably help you save important time, avoid stress, and maybe, just maybe make a friend for life.  Happy “thinking”.