PartManPartMonkey said:
You're kind to say so.
I do specifically mean putting on a shirt and tie. How you dress yourself, specifically how you dress yourself when you may be the only one who sees, is a reflection of your self-esteem. I wear a shirt and tie because it reflects everything I've worked for and am working towards. Your goals and ambitions will vary, and what works for me may not work for others. My particular life circumstances must be accounted for too: I've had about the best start in life one could hope for - I went to perhaps the best school in the world, I have had lots of opportunities to develop some very serious skills across a broad spectrum, I know personally a great many high net worth individuals, politicians, etc, and now I have a profitable business of my own with massive international potential involved in some genuinely exciting cutting edge technological development that could be worth very significant money.
I don't mean it to sound arrogant, but I am not trying to make some cash and live a decent life - I'm trying to rule the world. I expect it of myself because I have been given every opportunity anyone could ask for to achieve that aim. There is nothing more my family could have done for me to make it a possibility, and on top of that genetically I have been dealt a very good hand. I have basically started with a massive head start, and it is important I don't take that for granted or underachieve - it would be unforgivable given the extraordinary lengths my family has gone to to put me in this position.
Because of this I do wear a shirt and tie the entire time I am working, and impose very strict standards on myself. It is not so much just about being professional, it is about manifesting everything you are aspiring to, and embodying the future you expect (not hope) to achieve.
Again, take the example of Dan Pena vs. Mark Zuckerberg. MZ may have more money, may even have more power, but you can see from how he holds himself, how he conducts himself, and how he presents himself that he is not a man who can run the world. Ultimately he will probably be superseded because of that fact. Dan Pena is 80 something and still a rockstar. Why? His posture, his demeanour, his unshakable self esteem, the way he presents himself to the world is entirely congruent with who he is. Again, MZ may have the cash, but who would you go to for advice on a business venture, who would you turn to in a crisis, who would you back to overcome real adversity? Dan Pena and Mark Zuckerberg could stand side by side on a stage in their respective getup for one minute and not say a damn word, and you could tell everything you need to know about each of the men. Who you are is reflected in every little detail.
If your goal is to live a decent, comfortable life on your own terms (which is a perfectly reasonable and respectable goal), then it doesn't matter so much. But if you're doing what you're doing because you want to mix it with the big boys, then there is no dressing or acting like a little fish just because the lights aren't on you. You have to be on all the time, most specifically and most importantly, to yourself.
So when you say you wear a suit to see your clients, but you'd be uncomfortable in it on your own, you're saying that how other people see you is more important to you than how you see yourself. In my view that is the wrong attitude. Dan Pena says in one of those videos that when you look in the mirror you should love what you see, and he is entirely right. You should look in the mirror and think, 'Damn I'm a fine figure of a man'. Your self-esteem, if you're going to do great things, has to be really high. You should look at your body and like what you see, and when you cover it you should look at yourself and see a guy who looks like he belongs at the top table.
