Dress Your Best - There is a Pay Off!

The New Year has arrived and with it no doubt a list of new resolutions, aka, goals, targets, aspirations, and ways in which you are going to dramatically enhance your life in the coming 12 months.

I personally believe that setting “new year” goals is a good thing to do, albeit in an ideal world we would set them more organically throughout the year and without waiting weeks if not months to start that thing we know helps support you becoming your best you. Goal setting has become very commonplace and taken as something we all do, most of the time. There is something just so definitive about creating new aspirations as we turn our hopes of what a new calendar year can bring on January 1st, hence the new year and its solutions give you that turning of the calendar to a fresh new beginning and sharper you.

Where am l going with this and how does it relate to what we are discussing today? One of my resolutions for the new year is to dress better and look sharper, which means I'll have to downsize my sweatpants collection and upgrade my attitude as to how l present myself in the professional sphere.

Don’t Get Comfy Being Comfy

I have been guilty this last year of not reaching the standards that l want for myself in terms of my attire. I’m dressing too casually and leaving people with little else to assume, other than l just rolled out of bed or that I’m just too preoccupied to create the right impression as a working professional. Don’t get me wrong, l’m making a huge effort in so many areas of my working and professional life, but my working attire has not been at the top of the list. As l do not see clients on a daily basis, l always thought that was ok, dressing nicely was always for their benefit, right!?

We can always argue, “it’s what’s on the inside that counts” – and this is almost certainly the case, however, it’s ok to be glowing on the outside too with how well put together you look.

For those not aware of the idiom, “through the hedge backwards” It’s messy or untidy.  I’m sure we can all relate to those days running out the house not looking our best with a piece of toast wedged between the teeth and laptop and coffee in hand. It’s time for a change, allow time to create a consistent look of a polished working professional. This doesn’t mean you need to drop $$$$ on clothing or engage a style consultant to dress you each day. There are plenty of fair priced clothing options out there, it’s more about putting together the effort required. With regards style tips, need l say google search bar!

Create an Impression

When you take time to dress well, it is your message, to yourself and others that you take pride in your appearance and that leads to good assumptions that you are more likely to be responsible in other areas of your life. This is certainly a great benefit when interviewing for a new job or career advancement. It’s not that we are all superficial, however, we are just hardwired to make judgments upon first impressions for the most part. Dressing your best will most likely create that impression you want. In everyday life, we don’t have the need for a specific uniform per se, such as a doctor’s coat or overalls worn by a mechanic, however, when you think about encounters with either set of those professions, the attire helps create the right amount of trust and credibility. In our daily life, we can have much the same impact when we take the time to put together a great look with what we wear.

What do l Want to Achieve or Who do l Want to Become?

When l think of the goals I am setting for my own life, I am really thinking more in terms of the person I want to keep evolving into and less about what series of goals l want to strike off the list l made. 

If you reflect on many of your own goals whether you are actually already working toward them or just still in the pondering stage, they say something about who you want to become and not just what you want to achieve. If you are working toward losing weight or joining a gym to work out more, this speaks to you wanting to be a healthier person and all the other things that come with that. If you are setting a savings goals, this is more indicative of you becoming a more responsible individual and achieving more with your resources. Once you set some of these goals, you need to follow through and live by the codes they create.  If losing weight and working out more is your vision, it becomes less attractive to have “cheat days” when you eat junk food, it’s going against who you are becoming. When you set the goal-based more on the person you are evolving into rather than just an objective, then anything that works away from that journey starts to become less attractive. 

Exude Confidence

The underpinnings of Confidence is self-esteem. When you have a fresh hairstyle, nice threads, and some new shoes, it’s amazing what that does to your self-esteem, which then increases your confidence.  People will generally find you more approachable, you will likely receive the odd compliment or smiling glance, that speaks to others appreciation of the effort made or simply that your polished appearance is just something to be admired.  I have a sense this would give most people a confidence boost, or maybe the confident demeanour simply comes from within when you know you look put together. 

I’m not here to advocate for one fashion over another, but l think we can all agree that when we put some effort into our appearance, good things tend to follow this.  The way we dress can be so expressive and often times functional.  In the professional world, attaining a successful look with your attire will be of great benefit.  One caveat is a great ensemble look will only get you so far, you need the smarts and the work ethic to go along with those sweet threads.

To look sharp in business offers such a leg up in what is already a challenging and cut-throat environment. When you dress with a sense of authority you will be heard more and ultimately be more convincing. Each day you are trying to send a message and the clothing you wrap yourself in will often dictate how profoundly your message will be heard.

Finally, it’s been quite a few thousand years since we were running around naked hunting for food, clothing has evolved with the ages, have fun with it, let it be an expression of who you are.

Spencer Bromley