To Earn Respect, You Have To Look Sharp
How people treat you depends a lot on how you dress-up.
An old professor of mine used to give this advice to students on last-minute preparations for final examinations, “Dress up for this important exam. Get a new tie. Have your suit pressed. Shine your shoes. Look sharp because it will help you think sharp.”
The professor knew his psychology. Make no mistake about it. Your physical exterior affects your mental interior. How you look on the outside affects how you think and feel on the inside.
Most of the boys and girls go through the stage of wearing costumes while they are growing up. That is, they use costumes to identify themselves with the person or character they want to be. Think of Spiderman, Superman, Barbie costumes that kids wear, and how they immediately come into that character. It transforms them. They truly believe that they are the real character, the real heroes.
Anyone who has ever served in the Army knows a soldier feels and thinks like a soldier when he is in uniform. A woman feels more like going to a party when she is dressed for a party.
By the same token, an executive feels more like an executive when he is dressed like one. Your appearance talks to you, but it also talks to others. It helps determine what others think of you. In theory, it’s pleasant to hear that people should look at a man’s intellect, not his clothes.
Package Yourself
But don’t be misled. People do evaluate you on the basis of your appearance. Your appearance is the first basis for evaluation other people have. And first impressions last, out of all proportion to the time it takes to form them.
One day, while I was picking up groceries in my regular supermarket, I noticed one table of tomatoes marked at a certain price. On another table were what appeared to be identical tomatoes, this time packaged in polyethylene bags and marked twice the price.
I asked a young fellow who usually helps me pick up the right groceries, ‘What’s the difference between the tomatoes on this table and the tomatoes on the other table?”
“The difference,” he answered with a smile, is polyethylene. We sell about twice as many of the tomatoes in the polyethylene bags. They look better that way.”
Think about the tomatoes example the next time you are selling yourself. Properly “packaged,” you have a better chance to make the sale and at a higher price.
The point is, the better you are packaged, the more public acceptance you will receive.
Try this out next time you are outdoors, watch who is shown the most respect and courtesy in restaurants, on buses, in crowded lobbies, in stores, and at work.
People look at another person, make a quick and often subconscious appraisal, and then treat him accordingly. We look at some people and respond with the “Hey Buddy” attitude. We look at others and respond with the “Yes, sir” feeling. Yes, a person’s appearance definitely talks.
The well-dressed person’s appearance says positive things. It tells people, “Here is an important person: intelligent, prosperous, and dependable. This person can be looked up to, admired, trusted. She respects herself, and I respect her.”
The shabby-looking fellow’s appearance says negative things. It says, “Here is a person who isn’t doing well. He’s careless, inefficient, unimportant. He’s just an average person. He deserves no special consideration. He’s used to being pushed around.”
When I talk with my friends and colleagues about “Respect your appearance”, I more often than not get a response — “Agreed. Appearance is important. But how do you expect me to afford the kind of clothing that really makes me feel right and that causes others to look up to me?”
The answer is really a simple one — Pay twice as much and buy half as many.
Commit this answer to memory. Then practice it. Apply it to hats, suits, dresses, gowns, shoes, socks, sandals, scarves, coats — everything you wear. In so far as appearance is concerned, quality is far more important than quantity.
When you practice this principle, you will find that both your respect for yourself and the respect of others for you will zoom upward.
Remember, your appearance talks to you and it talks to others. Make certain it says, “Here is a person who has self-respect. She is important. Treat him that way.”
You owe it to others-but, more important, you owe it to yourself to look your best.
Final Thoughts
You are what you think you are. If your appearance makes you think you are inferior, you are inferior. If it makes you think small, you are small.
Look your best and you will think and act your best.
Remember, your appearance “talks.” Be sure it says positive things about you. Never leave home without feeling certain you look like the kind of person you want to be.
In my publication Any Given Sunday, I mostly write stories about parenting, being a dad, motivation, fitness, and some off-beat controversial topics.
I am also very passionate about F1, and run a publication — Formula One Forever where writers from across the globe contribute to this publication
Some more thought-provoking stories from Any Given Sunday —
Dad Stories
⭐ Say Hello! To The 4 Year Old Forrest Gump
⭐ If You Don’t Pick Up Your Kids Now, You’ll Surely Regret Later
⭐ How to Extract A Commitment From Your Teenager?
⭐ That Day When Dads Took Charge Of Their Kids For 1 Day
⭐ Your Kids Need To Sleep For Atleast 8 Hours. Otherwise, The Consequences Are Quite Severe
⭐ Teachers, Stop Asking Children To Click Pictures. Instead, Do This One Thing
⭐ If a 9 Year & 4 Year Old Can Climb 69 Floors, What’s Really Stopping You?
⭐ The Real Truth About The Discovery Of The Indus Valley Civilization
Motivational Stories
⭐ If I Miss A Rep, I Punish Myself. And The Results Are Amazing.
⭐ Top 15 Quotes from The Navy Seals That Will Motivate The Hell Out Of You Everyday.
⭐ 5 Simple Reasons You Are Not Motivated, And What You Need To Do About It.
⭐ To Merely Want to Do Something Is Not Enough. You Need To Take Action.
⭐ To Earn Respect, You Have To Look Sharp
⭐ How To Manage Negative Talk From Negative People?
⭐ Making Promises To Yourself Don’t Work. Never Will.
⭐ When Disaster Strikes, Just Say The Four Letter Word.
⭐ Fail You Must. History Is Full Of People Who Failed & Bounced Back
⭐ Achieve Personal Glory By Embracing Your Challenges With Open Arms.
⭐ Why You Should Apply For A Job That Says, “Men Wanted For Hazardous Journey”
⭐ Be Different. Become Different
Off-Beat Stories
⭐ The Information Tsunami Is Sucking You In. And You Don’t Even Know It. (Part 1)
⭐ The Information Tsunami Is Sucking You In. And You Don’t Even Know It. (Part 2)
⭐ Women Should Stop Trying To Walk Shoulder To Shoulder With Men (Part 1)
⭐ Women Should Stop Trying To Walk Shoulder To Shoulder With Men (Part 2)
⭐ Women Should Stop Trying To Walk Shoulder To Shoulder With Men (Part 3)
⭐ 26 Amazing (Or Not) Things That We All Can Do During Humanity’s Downtime
⭐ Trust Your Common Sense To Beat The CoronaVirus
⭐ Why 2500 deaths/day is Creating a Bigger Panic and Emergency than 17,000 Children deaths/day?
