The Five-Second Test

The Pattern You Start to Notice

I’ve been on both sides of conversations that start with a pitch. Sometimes it’s a demo-day stage with countdown clocks. More often it’s a Zoom call, a quick coffee, or a casual intro that turns into an idea someone wants me to back, buy, or believe in. What I’ve learned: Connection doesn’t start with content. It starts with presence. Before people hear your story, they feel your intent.

After enough reps, the pattern is unmistakable. Whether it’s a five-minute presentation or a quick hello, the real decision happens almost immediately.

Within five seconds, you can feel whether the connection is there. The energy shifts. People either lean in or mentally check out. It’s rarely about the deck, the product, the résumé, or the pitch itself. It’s about presence—how you enter the moment.

And it’s not just in business. When my daughters used to audition for shows, I saw the same thing. The audition didn’t start when they began singing—it started the moment they walked into the room. The panel had already picked up on confidence, nerves, preparation, and presence. Now that my daughters are more often on the other side of the table, they see it too. Someone walks in, and within seconds, the room knows.

We spend hours refining what we’ll say. Yet people decide whether to keep listening in the first five seconds. 

The Science of First Impressions

UX researchers run something called a five-second test: show someone an interface for five seconds, then ask what they remember. It’s a fast way to  measure clarity—because attention is won or lost instantly. 

Psychologists call this thin slicing. We form accurate, meaningful judgments in a blink – sometimes in under a second. It’s an instinctive trust filter, hardwired into how we navigate the world.

That’s why the five-second test matters.

It’s not about performing. It’s about the signal you send before you speak. In a meeting, on a call, even in an email – people sense your clarity long before they absorb your content.  

If you don’t know why you’re there, no one else will figure it out for you.

Presence comes from clarity, not effort. Before you step into the room, ask: What does success look like here? Not the perfect pitch – just the feeling you want to leave behind. That simple anchor calms nerves, and sharpens focus. 

Presence is the first chapter of your story. 

It’s the same quiet skill I wrote about in The Satisfaction of Relevance — knowing what someone’s ready to hear, and meeting them there.

Start Strong

First impressions are sticky. Once formed, they shape how everything afterward is interpreted. You can recover from a shaky start – through consistency, tone, and good questions — but it’s harder. 

The easier path? Start clear and grounded.  

Clarity has gravity. People move toward it. That’s something I explored in Your Swim Lane Is a Signal, Not a Constraint: when people know what you stand for, they trust you faster. In those first five seconds, that’s exactly what they are sizing up.

Be Yourself (Because Everyone Else Is Taken)

Most often, we over-prepare because we’re trying to sound like someone else, trying to live up to someone else’s expectations. The irony is that the more you perform, the less you connect.

When you’re clear about your purpose and comfortable in your own voice, those first five seconds take care of themselves.

Berkson’s Bits

When I tell Starbucks my name is “Al”, it looks like “AI” on the coffee cup.

(Only works in sans-serif fonts.)

Also, I don’t go to Starbucks anymore.

What Am I Watching

Theater is religion in my home. High on the family  pantheon: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Wicked 2 will be in the theaters at the end of November. To get you in the mood here's Wicked: One Wonderful Night. 

We obsess over the message and ignore the moment we enter. Yet  in every interaction that matters — pitches, meetings, auditions, interviews — the story starts before you speak.

In Who Gets to Interrupt You?, I wrote about protecting your attention. The five-second test is the flip side—how you earn someone else’s.

Five seconds isn’t much… But it’s long enough to change the room. 

The next time you walk into a meeting or a moment that matters, remember: the story has already started — and you’re already telling it.

Looking forward to continuing the conversation...

Alan