PRADA, me and Michael Douglas ‼️
New York. 1999.
I’m in my mid-20s.
Working in M&A at J.P. Morgan.
Walking through Chelsea Village on a Sunday morning, massively jet-lagged after flying in the previous day from London.
I had just received my first bonus and was feeling slightly amazed that someone pays me really well to do something I genuinely enjoy.
I pass a PRADA store.
Walk in and see a jacket I really like.
Quite a bit more expensive than I would normally spend.
I buy it.
Putting on my new PRADA jacket I ask them to throw away my old jacket.
Walking out into the cold I feel like a million dollars.
Minutes later, I see Michael Douglas walking towards me.
«Good morning Michael,» I say.
«Good morning, sir,» he replies.
That jacket became my ticket to confidence on demand.
Nightclubs with hour-long queues?
I walked straight in.
I learned two things that cold early morning in New York:
1️⃣ Your state of mind determines the outcome before you enter the room
Whether it’s a nightclub or a client pitch – how you feel about yourself shapes how others respond to you.
2️⃣ External signals to yourself change your internal state
That jacket didn’t just look good.
It changed how I felt, spoke, and carried myself.
It gave me permission to take up space.
Over 27 years in banking, I kept using this hack before every important meeting:
I let the clothes I choose prepare me mentally for the task ahead.
Feeling great and strong is a skill you can engineer.
You can wait to «feel confident» naturally.
Or you can create the conditions that produce this mindset.
A beautifully tailored suit.
The watch I bought myself after my MD promotion.
The Hermès tie a colleague I appreciate gave to me.
That PRADA jacket was not cheap.
The feeling and insight it gave me?
Worth a lot more.
I’m David Hansson
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