Does this photo I took of the Tour Eiffel inspire you? If it doesn't, no offense, but you need to have your head examined so that you can be inspired by beauty like this!

Does this photo I took of the Tour Eiffel inspire you? If it doesn’t, no offense, but you need to have your head examined so that you can be inspired by beauty like this!

With the start of a new year, we’re all seeking new goals and new ways to be inspired. Why not then consider being inspired by beauty?  When you are in touch with all of your senses, it is so easy to be inspired by beauty.  This must be a chief reason as to why I am in love with traveling to Paris.  If I haven’t been there in a while, I get heartsick.  It’s like my beauty-o-meter gauge says to me, “Go! Refuel your senses. And come back more alive than ever!” And, quite simply, this is exactly what happens to me during and after each visit.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  Living in the Silicon Valley is wonderful.  We can be inspired by beauty right at home.  The Santa Cruz Mountains are a wonderful sight.  There is world-class cuisine to enjoy in San Francisco and in points north, east, and – dare I say – south.  You can hop over to Stanford University to examine sculptures of Rodin.  It’s so much easier to be inspired by beauty that’s close to home, as opposed to having to fly all the way to Paris, France.

And, even though I return to Paris time after time, it remains my special go-to place for inspiration.  And, all the experiences that get me inspired by beauty are the kinds of memories, senses, and desires that I bring back home for my benefit and for yours.

This image of Les Invalides, taken Christmas night just after a rainstorm, perfectly captures how I am inspired by beauty that you can only see in a Place like Paris.

This image of Les Invalides, taken Christmas night just after a rainstorm, perfectly captures how I am inspired by beauty that you can only see in a Place like Paris.

Paris is a place for the eyes.  You can easily be inspired by beauty when it comes to architecture.  The building facades, the amazing urban planning, the honoring of important events with monuments and buildings, collectively paint a visual landscape that we don’t find back home.  Why does Paris look so brilliant after a rainstorm?  Whereas, when it rains at home [something we desperately need], we’re just grateful that the dust was washed off the buildings and roads?

Seeing Paris through this lens helps me bring home the happy feeling of being inspired by beauty anywhere, even if it’s different than the source of the inspiration.

This little Place Vendome atelier specializes in made-to-order menswear. Note the amazing array of scarves displayed through the atelier's store window.

This little Place Vendome atelier specializes in made-to-order menswear. Note the amazing array of scarves displayed through the atelier’s store window.

Paris is also about the beauty of the people.  Yes, there is a lot of emphasis on being thin in Paris.  But, that’s not what I’m necessarily thinking about when I see people who are well turned out just to eat a leisurely lunch at a corner café.  It’s terrific that women generally take care of their appearance and grooming, and manage how they comport themselves.  Men wear cologne and scarves without hesitation.  There is no need to metrosexualize a Parisian man.  Rather, it’s about whether or not a man is Parisian.  This is quite liberating and a real egalitarian approach to beauty that I hope can be inspiring to us all.

It makes me sad when I hear people back home say that they don’t often feel like looking snappy because of the work culture, or because “we live in San Jose!”  Oy vey!  So, the way in which I am inspired by beauty while in Paris is something that I get to bring back to Silicon Valley.  I want us to dress for ourselves.  I want us to dress for each other.  I want us to appreciate that each of us is beautiful, and that we can be.  We can be inspired by beauty simply by experiencing one another.

Why bother with all of this?  Isn’t this so vain?  So cliché?

If that’s how you feel about being inspired by beauty, you’ve been in the dark far too long.  It’s time to see the light again.

Do you get inspired by beauty by appreciating your surroundings? If you do, then you understand that looking good leads to the same effect. You are part of other people's surroundings, just like the Tour Eiffel is almost always in your line of sight when in Paris.

Do you get inspired by beauty by appreciating your surroundings? If you do, then you understand that looking good leads to the same effect. You are part of other people’s surroundings, just like the Tour Eiffel is almost always in your line of sight when in Paris.

This is why I go to Paris.  To me, it’s not only the literal City of Lights.  It is where people have a lightness of being, a joie de vivre.  I want to have that spirited Light in me, and I hope to inspire that in you, too.

To look good is to feel good.  To feel good is to do good.  To do good is to accomplish.  When you accomplish something, it’s not all about you.  It always impacts others.  And so does looking good, and feeling good, and doing good.  So why skip a crucial step toward accomplishing something by forgetting to look good first?

It’s the dawn of a New Year.  I challenge you to be inspired by beauty.  You don’t have to hop a plane and travel 6000 miles to find it.  It’s right there inside of you.  If you don’t find it there, you’ll never find it anywhere.

Joseph Rosenfeld helps successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs transform their self-confidence by improving their personal style.  Get Joseph’s free report that helps you know “7 Ways to Transform Your Personal Style.”