Play to Win, Your Wardrobe is Not a Spectator Sport
In sports, you play to win. In business, you play to win. So why are so many women playing it safe with their wardrobes? It's time to get off the bench and into the game.
Play to Win: Your Wardrobe Is Not a Spectator Sport
We do not watch the Olympics to see athletes survive to the finish line.
We watch to see them go all in. Push every limit. Leave nothing on the table.
You are an athlete in the game of your life. You have a uniform.
The question is: are you wearing the right one?
You are either wearing the wrong one, dressing down, blending into the background, looking and feeling frumpy and frustrated, and no one can see you because you look like everybody else.
That ends today.
Why Does What You Wear Actually Matter for Your Career and Confidence?
What you wear is not decoration. It is a decision.
What you wear impacts everything: your mindset, your mood, your marriage, your mojo, everything.
What you wear is very much a part of your mindset. Style is a mindset.
In 2012, researchers Adam and Galinsky published their landmark study on enclothed cognition. The science is unambiguous: what you put on your body changes how your brain functions. It changes how you think, how you perform, and how others respond to you.
This is not vanity. This is strategy.
Dressing well is a powerful people skill. You are either attracting or repelling people and opportunities.
You are oftentimes far more qualified for a position or an opportunity than many people around you, but these positions and opportunities are passing you by. Why? Because you do not look the part, because you are lacking confidence in your body, and because you are playing small.
That is not a small problem. That is a costly one. Read more about the real price of invisibility in Why Women Over 45 Feel Invisible at Work.
What Does "Playing to Win" Actually Look Like in Your Closet?
Playing to win means dressing with intention. Every single day.
You go to your locker room, which is your bedroom, your get-up-dress-up area, and you get back in the game of life.
What I want us to do together is create a red carpet experience and mindset between your home and your front door. So when you walk out in the morning and you go through that front door, you have a red carpet ready experience that sets you up for the day, positions you for influence and confidence.
You need to be intentional like those athletes out there who are winning.
Your uniform must be excellent. And it must communicate on the outside the value that you have on the inside.
This does not mean expensive. It does not have to be expensive. It does not have to be Louboutin shoes, although those are beautiful. It does not have to be those things. But it must be excellent.
Quality over quantity. Always.
How Do I Stop Blending In and Start Dressing With Purpose?
Stop dressing like everyone else. That is where you start.
This is about more passion, more power, and more purpose in life, because I am so done seeing beautiful women out there who are just being overlooked, literally looking like they are invisible. They have got the skills. The world is actually looking for them. But it is bypassing them because it cannot see them. Why? Because they are blending in with the background. Because they are looking average. Looking grey and black and brown. And that is not how you get ahead.
I was waiting for the train and I took a picture. There were about three out of 200 people who stood out. Why? Because one had a beautiful emerald green chunky scarf on. One had a red beanie and a red coat on. We are not blending into the background anymore.
Color is not a statement of arrogance. Confidence is not arrogance. Arrogance is a condition of the heart. Humility plus confidence is powerful.
If you are the quieter, shy type, red can be your best friend. The color red carries a power that no other color does. It will position you and strengthen your stature. It will have you dressing differently, accessorizing differently, and even speaking differently.
Mary is one of my clients. She used to be scared of clothes. She lived in baggy jeans, T-shirts, and flip flops, citing every excuse under the sun why dressing up was not important. But something powerful happens when you step up and face your fears. It was 2016 when she asked me to help her dress up boldly and confidently for a business seminar, and it was the first time she wore red lipstick. That day marked one of the turning points in her life. She was shocked at how differently people treated her, how noticed and respected she suddenly felt, just through dressing differently.
One decision. One garment. One turning point. That is real.
How Does the 4-Pillar Confidence Framework Connect to Personal Style?
Confidence is not built in one area of life. It is built across four.
My Power Day Protocol runs across four pillars: Faith, Fashion, Food, and Fitness. Underneath that sits the Signature 4-Pillar Framework: Self-Esteem (who I am when no one is watching), Self-Confidence (how I trust myself and my voice), Personal Style as Power (how I express who I am), and Confidence in Action (how I live, lead, and connect).
Fashion is not the frivolous one. Fashion is the daily, visible, repeatable expression of all three layers beneath it.
Your body, your personal style, your beauty: it is about what you put in your mind, not just what you put in your mouth. That is why we start with the heart. We start on the inside.
When the inside is still broken, the outside stays stuck. You buy clothes but nothing works. You stand in a full closet and feel nothing to wear. That is not a shopping problem. That is a self-esteem problem.
Explore how this plays out in the boardroom in Executive Presence for Women Over 45.
What If My Body Has Changed and I Don't Know How to Dress It?
Your body is not the problem. Your strategy is missing.
I teach five body shapes: K8, Dynamite, Bootyfull, Warrior, and All Heart. Every single one of them is dressable, stylish, and powerful. Shape, not size. Always.
If you are curvaceous and you have that hourglass shape, please do not hide it. Please show your shape. If you are blessed with a curvy shape, do not hide it. Draw it in at the waist. The classic pencil skirt sometimes looks gorgeous on you if you just learn how to wear it.
You only have to switch up 20 of the items or pieces to go from one event or location to another: from home to lunch, or out for date night. Your curves are beautiful. Your curves are feminine. You can be modern and modest at the same time. Your beauty is a gift, and it is time to stop sitting on the sidelines and get back in the game.
FREE · EMAILED INSTANTLY
Take the 3-minute Style Profile
Linda's free 7-question diagnostic. 4 archetypes, scripture, a personalized PDF. No card.
“We watch the Olympics because we love excellence in motion. When you dress well, that is excellence in motion. People are drawn to a beautiful, bold visual image, and that image is you.”
Linda Paige
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions women ask about this
How do I stop feeling frumpy and start dressing with confidence after 50?
Investing in your wardrobe is not fun fashion money, it is a powerful investment in your personal well-being and your professional success. Start with a closet cull, then build a 30-piece capsule wardrobe of versatile, high-quality items that mix and match across multiple outfits. Dedicate 20 percent of your effort in the morning and it will give you 80 percent of your results throughout the day.
What is the connection between what I wear and my confidence at work?
Tony Robbins teaches that when you change your physical state, you change your emotional and mental state, not the other way around. One of the easiest ways to change your mental and emotional state is by changing your outfit. This is backed by the science of Enclothed Cognition (Adam and Galinsky, 2012), which proves that what you wear directly shifts how you think, feel, and perform. Your clothing must communicate on the outside the value that you have on the inside.
How many clothes do I actually need in my wardrobe to look put-together every day?
The LindaPaige Capsule Wardrobe is a 30-item recipe of essential, versatile pieces that mix and match easily to create multiple different outfits. The system is repeatable and your skill set grows over time. Prioritise higher quality items in smaller quantities from places where you will get real value for your money and pieces that will last. Thirty intentional pieces outperform a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear every single time.
Why do I feel confident at work but not in my personal life or outside the office?
You are probably a 9/10 on the confidence scale in your workplace but a 4 or 5 outside of that comfort zone. You know who you are at work, but the public-facing role has become a performance you have been doing so long you have forgotten the woman underneath. You look fine and feel hollow. The fix is not more willpower, it is a strategic personal style system that makes the inner woman match the outer woman, backed by the 4-Pillar Framework: Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence, Personal Style as Power, and Confidence in Action.
Is dressing well really going to help me earn more money and get more opportunities?
You are often far more qualified for a position or opportunity than the people around you, but those opportunities are passing you by because you do not look the part, because you are lacking confidence in your body, and because you are playing small.
ABOUT LINDA PAIGE
Linda Paige is an Executive Coach, Stylist and Guinness World Record holder with 37 years and 45 countries of global business experience. She helps women 45-60 increase their confidence, influence and income through the power of personal style. Secretly, she teaches them to fall in love with the woman in the mirror. That's the magic.
Read Linda's full bio →
Ready to take action?
Style is just a skill. Let Linda teach you. Take her free Style Profile, or book a strategy call.