You may not realize it, but no matter where you are, people are looking at you and noticing how you look—clothing, hair, makeup, etc.  Maybe you don’t think it’s important; but the clothes you wear, in particular, definitely influence other people’s impression of you.

On researching how long it takes for a person to make an impression on you, there were many diverse answers on different websites.  Some people thought three seconds was enough time, others said one glance, and others said several minutes, or more.  But on the average, most people seem to make up their mind within seconds.  Of course, after getting to know someone better, the impression could change over time.

However, if the norm is just a few seconds for most people, don’t you think it’s worth your time to dress as well as you can for every instance you’re “out there,” whether shopping, working, or enjoying leisure time activities? 

It’s especially crucial to dress as required for work purposes and fit in with the unwritten code of your workplace.  Even if you have a low level job, you are doing yourself a great disservice if you dress as a low level employee.  If you dress the part of an executive (okay, maybe you can’t afford the suits, but you can still find some decent clothes on sale) you will be shown more respect.  There’s even a good possibility that you might be considered for a higher position based on how you present yourself.  Dress down all the time and you can expect to stay in your present position in the mailroom or in reception.  There’s nothing wrong with those jobs, at all; but if you are hoping to be noticed and get a promotion, you have to take your clothes more seriously because others do.

If you were a waitress in a restaurant, waiting on a scruffy man, dressed sloppily in old jeans and a t-shirt, you might immediately get the impression that he was just another average Joe; and, even if he were attractive, you might not be impressed because of his clothing.  What if you were to find out he was a millionaire who was just roughing it?  Of course, you’d be surprised; and it just goes to show that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.  But that’s what we all do, all the time.

That’s just one example of how wrong we can be about others, by going merely on the basis of the way they present themselves.  And if we really do only take a matter of seconds to make a judgment on someone’s appearance, it means that everyone should be more careful about their dress, no matter where they are going.