January-the month of resolutions, vision boards and goal setting. We set goals for income, our businesses and weight loss/fitness. Why not do some reflecting upon your style, image and wardrobe for the year, and set goals in this area? I mean…you are the CEO of your closet, aren’t you?

If you already have some ideas for your 2018 style goals,* looking back at your past year will help to ensure they are truly in line with your priorities and values. Take your time reflecting and reviewing, and try to do it a few days in advance of goal setting. Enjoy the process without focusing too much on your goals.

*I dislike the idea of “resolutions”. Goals feel so much more positive.

Here are a few questions to reflect upon. (As I mentioned earlier, enjoy this—take your time, and don’t judge yourself.)

• Has my style changed over the last year? If so, how?
• What are my favorite outfits/garments? How do they make me feel?
• Which clothes get the most consistent compliments? What do they have in common?
• What are my least favorite outfits/garments? How do they make me feel?
• Think about your lifestyle and list your roles and activities. How much time do you spend in each category? (Maybe make a pie chart.) Do the contents of your closet match your activity level? For example, if you work a 40+ hour work week, and 80% of what’s in your closet is ski and hiking clothes, you have a disconnect…might be why you’re frustrated getting dressed for work.
• What does my style/clothing say about me? If you’re not sure, ask a few highly trusted friends.
• Another exercise that is helpful is one I do with my clients called Moving away from/Moving toward. Think about your style, your closet, getting dressed, the variety of things you have to choose from, etc. What are you having a hard time with? Those things are what you want to move away from. To keep things simple, whatever the opposite is makes up what you’re moving toward.

For example, very often my clients remark they want to move away from ironing. So then, you want you want to move toward buying easy care clothing or buying a steamer, (seriously one of the biggest life changing moves I’ve ever made.)

I’ll use myself as a second example, before I started this image consulting business in Denver, my husband and I lived in Southern California for a few years. Toward the end of our stay there, I began to notice I’d fallen into a bit of a style rut and was routinely wearing jeans, a cute T and a waist length cardigan. Once I realized the rut, I decided I wanted to move away from wearing the same outfit on the weekends to wearing a variety of cute styles, completely accessorized.

These are just a few ideas of ways to get you started toward a style and image you’ll absolutely love in 2018.

There are no right answers or wrong answers.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be gentle with yourself in your exploration. Have fun with the process and get excited about what your style can be in 2018!

SaveSave

SaveSave