What’s Your Style Mindset?

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. -Max Planck.

That’s true for just about everything I can think of, including your image and style. Having a stand-out style starts with your mindset. Let’s look at some of the most important implications of your “style mindset” on your overall image in business and life.

The “Beauty is on the Inside” Mindset:

This one is a serious threat for those that buy into it! Yes, it’s true that if you’re ugly on the inside, nothing else you do matters, and people will tend to want to avoid you. Whereas if you have a kind heart and loving personality, your people will often overlook the fact that style isn’t your highest priority.

But WAIT! There’s more to this mindset than that, basically, it’s a cop-out. You can be beautiful on the inside AND out. There’s no reason to choose one over the other. Think both and, not either-or.

Typically I find that the women who have this mindset have tried at one time or another to look their best, but didn’t know how to make it work very well, so they gave up to concentrate on other things. The danger here is that eventually, you lose yourself. You’re always in the background serving others' needs while they move ahead and you stay shall we just say, frazzled looking.

If this sounds like you, the shift I want you to consider making is this. What if you didn’t have to know how to improve your image and style, you could find someone else to do that for you. And what if then you could have both, internal beauty AND an image that matched it. You don’t have to do everything yourself. If you’re busy building or running a business, delegate this responsibility as fast as you can.

The “I Don’t Have Time” Mindset:

You really can’t win with this mindset. The time you have available is the same as everyone else, and some women manage to pull it off, so it is possible. But how? A fantastic professional image does require time, but not in the ways you may think. It's not about spending hours in front of the mirror creating outfits. It’s not about toiling with hair and makeup and accessories. It’s about systems. Pure and simple.

The time you put in at the beginning makes everything after that almost effortless. For example. If your closet is packed to the brim, with who knows what, you’re not going to want to take the time to look through it to find what’s just right. So clean it out! The only things that have a right to take up valuable real estate in your closet are the things you really love and that look great on you. When you can see what you have and you know it’s all good, you can get dressed in no time.

Schedule regular appointments for your hair. Did you know that there are a growing amount of hair professionals who freelance? They come to you, so you never have to wait around in a salon again. Nice huh?

A personal stylist will show you what goes with what and how to put it all together and photograph it so you’ll never be stumped for what to wear. So the shift I want you to consider making if you have this mindset is this: Take the time to set up your style systems now. It will be worth it to you immediately and then you can spend your precious time on what’s important to you.

The “I’m Smart, I Don’t Have to be Stylish” Mindset:

OK, I’m impressed by the intelligence, but it doesn’t have to look so dull!!! The truth is that people judge. So, while being smart in your area of expertise is a beautiful thing, you’ll have a much harder time convincing people that you’re the one for the job or the sale if you’re not smart enough to pull your look together with style.

When the way you present yourself matches what you say you have to offer, your audience experiences a “truth” signal. Their scan of you will tell them that you are credible and likely to be good at what you do. The reverse is also true. If you’re claiming to be a highly sought-after nutritionist for example, and you’re 50 pounds overweight and drinking a soda, how credible do you think that is? Would that create some doubt in your mind about the person's capabilities? People like it when your message and your image are congruent, it makes them feel comfortable.

So, the shift that I want to suggest for this mindset is this: Use your smarts to your advantage. Allow your image and style to support you, rather than work against you.

That’s enough for now, I could keep going, but I’ll save some for future posts.

Peace, Love & Fashion

Anne