By Sandy Dumont
The Image Architect

"I don't meet the public, so what does it matter how I look at work?" According to the latest university studies, it matters a great deal. The way you look and dress affects those around you, and when you look good, you not only make others feel good about you, you also make them feel better about themselves. It’s even possible that your co-workers could be more productive when you pay attention to the way you look.

You may have experienced something similar to this. You walk down the corridor on the way to your office and slow your pace as you approach her door. "I can't wait to see what she's wearing today," you say to yourself. "She always has such great ideas for colors and accessories." And then you continue down the corridor to your own office - and there she is. You share an office with a woman who takes little pride in her appearance. Her hair is dirty and stringy and her clothes are dated and drab. She’s definitely not a source of inspiration.

Do you think that you would be more productive working alongside a person who takes great pride in his or her appearance? And do you believe that you might be less productive working alongside a person whose appearance is unpleasant or annoying to you? For years, workshop attendees have been answering Yes to these questions, and now a university study has confirmed that they are correct in their assumptions.

Professor Patrick Poessel, visiting professor at Vanderbilt University demonstrated that looking at women who wear cosmetics makes observers feel better and may also improve their health. Poessel and his colleagues studied the emotional and physical reactions of 60 women to a variety of images. Interspersed among 40 color photographs of people and places were the faces of four women, with and without makeup. Not only did the images of the made-up faces get rated more positively than those without makeup, but women viewing them experienced decreased hart rate, indicating a positive physiological response. Also, half the women had a measurably-improved immune response and a decrease in stress hormones after viewing the pictures of the women wearing makeup. Poessel says this result has occurred in othr studies as well.
 
Studies using muscle testing have yielded similar results. And it is not just makeup that alters the mood of others. Male employees wearing rumpled polo shirts and baggy khakis stand little chance of lifting the mood of others. Participants who viewed magazine covers with garments or backgrounds in dreary colors had negative reactions with muscle testing. Conversely, when viewing magazine covers with garments in happy colors such as royal blue or red, participants had positive reactions when muscle testing was done. Muscle testing is a simple procedure used by medical practitioners whereby a person's extended arm is held out to one side; when negative thoughts or images are held by a person, the person's arm is pushed down easily. With positive thoughts or images, the arm remains strong and cannot be pushed down.

The way you look and dress announces not only how you feel about yourself, it now seems that it can also predict how others may feel when they are around you. Casual Friday has been abused so severely that employees show up regularly in rumpled shirts, flip flops and other inappropriate attire. This "casual" day may be more aptly described as Casualty Friday because it has gone from bad to worse with each succeeding year.

Lately I am bombarded with calls from people who want me to come in and do a one-hour workshop to get their business casual program more clearly defined, since it has gone astray. I decline. First of all, it can't be defined, because it is an oxymoron. You are either dressed professionally in business attire, or you are in casual attire for casual activities. Secondly, change of any kind requires repetition, so it is an effort in futility to think of achieving positive or long-lasting change with a one-hour workshop.

If you feel good about who you are and what you do, shout it to the world by dressing to impress rather than dressing for your comfort on Fridays. Let Friday be known as Fashion Friday instead of  Casual (or casualty) Friday. You will not only be a source of inspiration for your co-workers or employees, you will increase their happiness level!

Source: Milteer.com
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