Put some effort into it
Courtesy of Ian
I won’t pretend to know what she’s thinking when she puts it on, but I can tell you the impression that it gave me… Most 9-5ers, even if you have to wear a suit and tie, can roll out of bed, throw on moderately wrinkled clothes, and shuffle off to work without anyone noticing that s/he didn’t shower or bother to iron his/her clothing.
If you do that, most people won’t notice, but you won’t stick out either. By wearing her make up, that woman, perhaps unconsciously, signals to everyone that that she put some effort into her appearance; she took the time to prepare for her day, and in doing so, she may have given herself a leg up on a promotion over a colleague, on a job offer over another candidate, or maybe simply on a smile from stranger. And, if it takes her an extra 5 minutes each day to put on her make up, do you think any of those outcomes be worth it to her?
While it’s so cool to appear that you do everything so well without having to try, perhaps showing a little effort lets people know that you care about what you’re doing. It’s so easy to stay in bed 30 minutes longer and then just blend into the crowd at work or on the street, but maybe, just maybe, getting up 30 minutes earlier will pay dividends in the future.
Do you need to? No. Can you? Yes. What will you get out of it? Only time will tell, but honestly, how many successful people do you know that do not appear to be trying to succeed?
Tags: dress for success, effort, ironed clothing, ironing, make up, makeup, showering
December 26th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Thank you very much,your site is perfect
December 26th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I like your site in general Eric, but this is the most asinine posting I’ve seen on the whole internetz in at least the last couple of weeks.
Makeup=promotion?!
That is seriously, seriously messed up.
December 26th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
While I’m glad that you like my site in general and while I do appreciate divergent opinions, I do want to make clear that I was not trying to say that women have to wear makeup to get ahead. Rather, I believe that showing that you put effort into your appearance can give others a positive impression of you. The case with the makeup was only an example. If you disagree and feel that appearance is not important, I invite you to write a guest post about that. You can email is to contact@ericpratum.com. Assuming that it fits the general style of the posts here, I’ll put it up.
December 26th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I agree with Eric.
December 26th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I agree with Eric, in that “sadgutlessselfhatingintellectual” gave a divergent opinion that was also in with-in my line of thinking, in terms of the whole make up / promotion / iron your clothes thing. People don’t just look good for success. They look good or prepare in the morning because of the fact that – that’s just who they are. Monday – Sunday, I dress up because I am just that kind of a person. And make up? Well, I like girls who wear a lot of make up and some times I like none at all. But it has nothing to do with success. Smart people can dress down or up and they will be successful as long as they don’t offend in the more obvious ways.
December 26th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
As a woman, I don’t think make-up has anything to do with being successful. Personally I like looking at myself when I have just enough make up on so that you can’t tell I’m wearing any make up, but that’s me and I don’t like to feel “made up”. I can say that the “extra effort” that my clients want to see comes in my presentations, the extra hours I work, the quality of my work. I’ve never met anyone in business who thought “I might have given her that contract if she’d put a bit more make up on”.
The problem with your example, Eric, is that make-up does not equal effort any more than showering or wearing deodorant equals effort. It’s just a mindless thing we do in the morning and requires next to no effort at all because most of us have done it at least five days a week for over a decade.
Putting extra effort into your appearance, to me, is having a nicely pressed outfit or pants that are hemmed perfectly, cuffs that are the right length… but again, appearance matters so little to me that the only thing that would really stand out would be total sloppiness.
Self-promotion for “smart people” might include being more concerned about the content than the window dressing. JMHO.
December 26th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Thanks for commenting, Heather. You make some good points… most of which I agree with, so I’m mainly just going to disagree (somewhat) within the context of the post being about appearance and not content. I don’t want to come across like I’m completely disagreeing with you.
You’re right that putting on makeup is not any more effort than showering, but would you agree that it could be any number of things like this to which a person could say “not enough time today” that could make a difference? Just because it’s accepted that it’s only a small amount of effort and it’s expected that women wear some minimal amount of makeup, I don’t think that means that every woman conforms, right? Could be her preference. Could be effort level. Could any number of things. But, could the effect makeup has on a woman’s appearance affect her success? Potentially.
I agree with your point about being more concerned with content. I do write about that here now and then… Actually, I think I have something about backgrounds and experiences lined up for Monday or Tuesday.
Thanks again!
December 27th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Hanging in there with you out here in left field Eric! Nice site – I’m impressed……..