Yes, You Can!

Listening to The Secret Emotional Life of Clothes on NPR's Invisibilia podcast, I'm reminded of how many great examples exist of the power of positive thinking, an expression made popular by Norman Vincent Peale's 1952 work of the same name, and a positive self-image. Interestingly, two groups of people were given a simple attention test and the group that was given white doctors' coats to wear made one-half the mistakes of the other group. Amazingly, when one group was told to wear the same white coats, but they were described as artists' smocks, the performance of the two groups was similar.

It's been called a lot of different things, positive mental attitude, visualization and "fake it 'til you make it" among them, but they all suggest the same thing - probably best said by Henry Ford - "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Now, I'm not suggesting you can change absolute outcomes by merely adopting Luigi Pirandello's mantra "Right you are, if you think you are," (unless, of course, you're Donald Trump), but you can certainly enhance the relative outcome through any of a number of these techniques. The world's #1 golfer, Jason Day, closes his eyes before each shot and visualizes the desired outcome. Were that me, it would still bounce off the cart path into the water. So, this is no panacea to solve all your problems, but a good approach for improving outcomes.

And, on the subject of dressing for success, if you want to whine that people shouldn't judge you by the clothes you wear, go for it. Mark Zuckerberg did fine in a hoodie. But, I'm going with Carrie Bradshaw and cashing in on the ROI of dressing appropriately for the occasion and, when it's a negotiation or an important presentation, donning my most confidence-oozing, intimidating if need be, professional attire. Who knows? Maybe it will tip the balance my way.