It sounds cliché, but your body really is your temple. You’ve only got one body in this life; you have to live in it, and others will judge you based on how you care for it.
The world is much like a job interview. At the office, your child’s school, even the grocery store, the people you interact with see your outside, not your inside. Job interviews give the employer a chance to see firsthand what you are all about and quite a bit rides on this first encounter. So what does your physical resume say about you? In this competitive world, does your physical resume say you lack motivation, you are trapped in the past, suffer from a host of medical conditions and that you don’t care about yourself? Not selflessness — that is something different. A slovenly appearance says you don’t care. To an employer, someone who can’t even take the time to show up clean and well groomed, would represent someone unorganized, irresponsible and lacking confidence. This also applies to the world at large. You need to stop thinking, “Well if people love me they will simply love the inside me.” Good luck with that. Your “inside” you is only part of you, but it is the less obvious part; make the whole package great. Don’t drive around life in a crappy-looking car just because it runs well; have it all.
[i] J, Andreoni R. Petrie. “Journal of Economic Psychology.” University of California (2008) 73-93
Moderately attractive people took home seven percent less in earnings than their prettier co-workers. According to the study, the main reason for this was that attractive people are seen as more helpful and cooperative. The study also found that, of those participating in the study, 39 percent of attractive men and women were judged to be helpful, compared to 16 percent of moderately attractive people, and only 6 percent of unattractive people.
John T. Molloy, author of Dress for Success, conducted an interesting experiment while writing his book. He panhandled money at New York City’s Port Authority Bus Terminal and Grand Central Station. During rush hour, he stopped people and said he was embarrassed but had lost his wallet and needed 75 cents to get home. He did this for two hours. During the first hour, he wore a suit but no tie. During the second hour, he wore a tie as well. In the first hour, he made $7.23, and, during the second hour, his net was $26 dollars — nearly five times more. Molloy’s conclusion? The public perceives the tie as a symbol of respectability and responsibility. People trust and respect someone who is well-groomed and cared for. Why wouldn’t you want this for yourself and your child? Obviously, I’m not saying you must wear a suit every day, but putting your best foot forward can only improve your life.
A study done in part by New York University sociologist, Dalton Conley, found an increase in a woman’s body mass directly correlated to a decrease in her family income and job prestige. Men, however, experienced no similar negative effect. The study, sponsored by the National Bureau on Economic Research, found a one percent increase in body mass as measured by using BMI results in a 0.6 percent decrease in family income. This isn’t right, but it’s reality, and is something that should be taken into consideration for yourself and your children.
I’ve known many mothers who are persistent, committed, self-sacrificing, attentive, driven, methodical, motivated, creative, competent, bright, self-critical and perfectionistic. These adjectives make them wonderful mothers, wives, employees, and so on, but also tend to make them very poor in the self-care department. Too much stress, including the stress of being a day-to-day caretaker, jeopardizes health, happiness, productivity, goals, and relationships. Working with little variation or a high demand for productivity and recurring pressured deadlines over an extended period of time will create a lot of stress. It’s time to start taking care of you regardless of deadlines, soccer games, and everything else you have going on at any given moment. This may sound like blasphemy to the typical mom, but attempting to perform all these daily tasks while feeling overburdened and unwell simply makes you ineffectual. It’s time to start living and enjoying life, cultivating a fulfilling life that involves what you want and caring for your own needs, as well as those of your family. Self-care is a well-understood and universally-affirmed concept, with a history of poor implementation. Like most everything else, life is a game of balance. Finding that balance is key to taking care of yourself while, at the same time, taking care of those who depend on you.
The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.
Sam Walton
With the painful tension of a Mexican standoff, consumers and companies seem to mutually hate one another. You could nicely overlay a bad marriage onto this I-need-you-but-hate-you company/customer dynamic. We say we love our customers, but do we? Just take a peek at the pejorative policies that companies impart onto their customers and you will quickly see that customer service is critically ill.
We must ask, is the rapid decay of customer service only the fault of Corporate America? The answer is clear Customers are mutating into monsters. This dysfunctional dance between customer and company has engendered a hybridized Red Queen effect; and consumers have seemed to match absurd policies with there own brand of ugliness. We cheat on returned merchandise, we lie about lost receipts and companies respond in kind with vigorous and hostile return policies to thwart our unethical progress. The net result: companies and consumers both seem to lose equally. In our current economy with the saturation of its faceless e-commerce, customer service has reached its nadir. The new trend will be to “add back in” and alas, customer service will have its day. There’s an old saying, “Customers get better as you do.” And to that, I would wholly agree.
As companies, we cannot completely protect ourselves against the 2 to 3 percent of the nasty people who darken our doorway. But if we create policies designed to punish the miniscule few, we create a system that captures the dolphins in the tuna net. We will explore the sick psychology that surrounds the companies and consumers and better understand how human dynamics play into the psychology of consuming and the psychology of selling. When we better understand why humanoids do what they do we can respond with positive strategies to create the win-win scenario we all seek. It’s time for us to explore our company’s mental health by asking hard questions and seeking remedies that will build a strong, competitive company.
