Dressing for empowerment

Look better, feel better, perform better

“Recent research into enclothed cognition … confirms there is a strong association between what we wear and our psychological processes”

-Professor Karen Pine

 Many notable business leaders identify a particular morning ritual that sets them up for the day. Each person finds peace and empowerment in different activities; tai chi, meditation, or a run, for example, but the one ritual we all have in common is that we all clothe our bodies before we leave the house. Everything we do before we enter our workspace has a bearing on how enjoyable, or easy, our working day subsequently is.  The impact your outfit has on your day can vary from making you feel empowered, to just simply not being a distraction from the tasks at hand. 

 Fake it ‘til you make it

Shauna Mackenzie Heathman, a certified image consultant and owner of Mackenzie Image Consulting in South Carolina states:

“The strong link between clothing and mood state suggests we should put on clothes that we associate with happiness, even when feeling low”

 How many hours of the day do you spend either at work or commuting to/from the office or work meetings? Most of them? Don’t you deserve to spend most of your time in clothes you enjoy wearing, clothes that make you feel good?

Life is full of challenging events and elements which are out of our control, so it makes sense to be wise with the choices we do have, and use them to stack the odds of happiness and success in our favour.

Heathman offers great advice on how we can achieve this through our outfit choices: “happy clothes include well-cut, figure-enhancing items made from bright and beautiful fabrics…If something makes our figure look poor, we generally don’t like this and thus are unhappy about it. When we don’t like what we wear, we focus on it throughout the day. It takes away the focus from the daily tasks that are important…A woman should walk out of the door and not have to think about what she’s wearing for the rest of the day.”

 How can you focus on meeting a new client and closing a new deal if you’re preoccupied with your visible panty line? How can you stay on track while delivering an important pitch if you’re fidgeting about it in ill-fitting, uncomfortable trousers? Put simply, you can’t. 

 So, how can we set ourselves up to win every morning?

Review your wardrobe regularly

At the start of each season, hold a little ‘wardrobe review ritual’ to assess:

1.    what works,

2.    what doesn’t work,

3.    which items will carry through to next season, and

4.    any missing items you need to purchase.

 If an item of clothing makes you feel uncomfortable at just the thought of it, get rid of it. Take each individual piece of clothing out of your wardrobe and hold it out in front of you. Does it evoke negative or positive feelings? 

Are there items of clothing you love but are missing counterparts? For instance, a black pencil skirt that makes you feel attractive and sophisticated, but you just don’t have the right silk cream blouse to go with it? Write a list of any absent items in your phone for your next shopping trip, or for the next time someone asks you what you’d like for Christmas. 

Wear clothes that remind you of happy memories

“The science of happiness has found that we have ‘positive interventions’ that can change our mood, and when we deliberately intervene on our happiness by wearing things that evoke positive feelings, positive reactions from others, or that remind you of positive experiences, you will be happier,” - Caroline Adams Miller, a professional coach, author of “Creating Your Best Life” and a graduate of University of Pennsylvania’s Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology program

 What gets rewarded gets repeated

Learn to acknowledge, accept and process compliments. If you make an effort with your appearance you are more likely to receive compliments, which makes you feel good, and creates a desire to continue to dress well! Et voila - you’ve kicked off a great cycle of looking and feeling good.

 Accept that your beauty is a tool - and use it

It doesn’t matter what size, shape, skin colour, hair colour, height you are – there is beauty in us all, and there are things we can all do to either enhance or diminish it. 

 Enhancing our beauty makes us feel empowered, and

If you feel empowered you will perform better.