- Your favourite teams jersey
- Your rapper gold chain and Ed Harding cap
- Your super hero cape and mask
Seriously though, if you work in an office you need to appreciate that there is a strong correlation between your presentation and success. The research is overwhelming. People who dress the part make the most money, Period!
“But how I dress should not matter, it is my performance that counts!”: Wrong. In general, clients and bosses choose people who are well presented over their casual counterparts. The research also shows that people who are well dressed tend to have higher performance. They get results because they are in a ‘work’ frame of mind. They tend to use more professional and appropriate language.
“But I want people to see the real me at work”: I get it, there is more to you than your work persona. But going casual at work is about as dim as wearing a suit to a beach resort. Because the real you is not one-dimensional. You would not go to a black tie event or to church and say, ‘hey I know this is a formal gathering but I am a casual kinda guy.’ So why would you apply the same reasoning at work?
Wearing the same clothes at work, as you do at home is about as much fun as eating at the same restaurant every day.
My opinion: Getting dressed to go to work should be a confidence building ritual every morning. Its ok to be comfortable but rarely casual. Your choice of label or cut should say to the world, ‘hey this is who I am at work’.
And when you do finish work for the day, there is nothing more satisfying than to disconnect from work by slipping into you comfortable jeans and T-shirt or maybe even your Avengers super hero outfit and say to yourself, ‘hey this is who I am at home’.