"Nothing Succeeds Like the Appearance of Success"

Did you know it only takes five seconds for people to form a first impression of you?  What message is your body language sending?  If you are slouching you are signaling you are weary, dreary, and probably a bit self-conscious.  Talk about having lackluster presence.

Show some self-confidence, elegance and grace by standing up straight.  This means your head held high, (chin level to the ground no snooty noses in the air, please) shoulders rolled down and back with your shoulder blades pulled closer together, and your weight evenly distributed between your feet. 

We all could be better with our posture.  How to practice? Well, we could do what a business associate recently mentioned over lunch one day, when she exclaimed, "I have to practice my posture ...my mom is coming into town."  She envisions someone gently pulling up on an imaginary ribbon affixed to the top of her head.  Or you could take up yoga or pilates which help with posture.  Or you could keep in your mind's eye someone of grace you want to emulate - maybe Grace Kelly,  reformed sloucher Gwyenth Paltrow, or Audrey Hepburn and Chelsea Clinton with their ballet-trained perfect posture. 

The bonus for all your trouble? Not only will you look more self-confident and positive, you will feel better and you will look five pounds thinner.  Sounds marvelous to me.