“The apparel oft proclaims the man”
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
“Clothes make a man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
Mark Twain
Our behavioral patterns are clothes we choose to wear to help us to deal with our situation.
For example, if we want to impress, we dress to impress – we behave with confidence and surety.
We wear the behaviors we believe will best meet our needs.
Some of our behaviors are raincoats – helping us deal with the downpour, keeping us warm and dry.
And some of our behaviors are comfy sweaters – we snuggle into them for the warmth and relief.
Some of our behaviors are designer suits…
… or little black dresses…
… or suits of armor…
… or hipster skinny jeans…
Some of our behaviors are way over-sized hoodies within which we become formless.
Though our wardrobes may be overflowing, we’re more often than not wearing the same outfit (or a similar variation).
We become habituated to wear the behaviors that have proven to meet the situations of our past.
But what if the weather’s changed since we started wearing those behaviors.
What if the sun is out and we’re still wearing the raincoat?
What if clouds are gathering, lightning cracking, and we’re stuck in the open in board shorts and flip-flops?
What if we’re in a critical business meeting, wearing our most rock-and-roll of leather jackets?
What if our first impulse is to retreat to the comfy sweater, when what we really need is military fatigues?
If our sense-of-self manifests in our behaviors, then we may come to believe our self cannot change.
But here’s the trick: we can choose to wear different behaviors.
Said differently:
Right now, you are wearing yourself.
If you don’t like who you are right now – if you’re caught in a rainstorm in board shorts, or wearing a hooded parka in a desert – you can choose to change your outfit.
And, because we are all living within cognitive loops, when you change your outfit, you begin to wear a different you.
In other words, sooner or later the clothes really will make the man.