(Preview)
Why This Suit Salesman Loves "Dress For Your Day" Part II

The most used justification for dressing well is first impressions. Because as we all know, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.”

The idea here is to dress in a way that focuses on how you are perceived. So instead of determining how to dress based on your own desires, interests and moods, you base it upon others and the perception you want to create for them.

This is a valid and important consideration. 

However, there might be something even more important for us to consider. And it has to do with that small, silent voice inside each of us.

You know this voice.

It’s the one you hear when you are witnessing a beautiful sunrise or maybe when you’re hearing a beautiful piece of music. You might hear it on a drive through the countryside or on a walk in the woods or nearby park. It might be calling to you when you tuck in your children or grandchildren at the end of the day, giving them a hug and kiss, telling them you love them. It’s the voice you might hear in the church or the synagogue or the mosque. It might be the undertone in the yoga studio or out on the water or some other happy place. It calls to all of us, and we have the opportunity to listen to it and bring it forth or deny it. The clothes we put on our bodies are either sending mixed messages to that voice or agreeing with it. Are we listening?

Instead of placing all of our wardrobe eggs into the basket of the external (which might cause some to put on a suit and some others to put on an old, worn out t-shirt), what happens if we save some of those eggs to help that small, silent voice? Would we dress better or worse? 

Whenever I hear the business professional tell me they dress for their client, part of me always thinks, “I understand that…..but what about dressing for you?"

That small, silent voice is calling you to be better. It’s not satisfied with comfort and the status quo. It wants you to see the tremendous potential you have to help your bosses and managers and shareholders and clients and family and community. If we put some of the focus there, instead of fleeting first impressions, dress codes might become a thing of the past. 

Absolutely think about your dress and how it impacts your first impressions. But perhaps more importantly, make sure it is in line with that small, silent voice that is yearning to be heard.