Dress for Success in the Home Office
As glorious as it is to be able to work in your PJs (and yes, it truly is a glorious thing!), the attire you choose to wear during the day can have a psychological effect on your work-output.
Quite simply, if you're bumming around your Place of Work in your trackie-dackies, Bon Jovi T-shirt and moccasins... it is likely that, although you’re pretty comfy, you’re probably sabotaging your own productivity.
If you think about certain clothing items and the activities associated with them, you might be more inclined to dress for success:
- A PARTY DRESS is associated with socialising with friends.
- PJs are associated with bed, sleeping.
- TRACKSUIT PANTS are associated with lazy Sundays.
- A SNUGGIE is associated with relaxation.
- A SUIT is associated with business, special events.
- JEANS and LEGGINGS are associated with casual outings.
Of course I'm not suggesting you wear a suit to work every day, although it’s certainly advisable that you make the exception for face-to-face clients meetings. When you’re at home, in private and operating your day-to-day small business, be aware that the clothing you choose to throw over your head in the morning will help you to set the "mood" for your working day and will help establish the invisible line between home and work.
Imagine you're working the "traditional" 9-5 office job. It's likely that you have a selection of professional-looking clothes items that you wear to this job and only to this job. Keeping that principle in mind; do the same sort of thing for your home-based business. That is: have a set of clothes that you wear exclusively for your hours of operation. There's no perfect clothing combination; of course, comfort should be considered above all else. They don't even have to look professional - in fact – in theory you COULD wear your PJs to work each day, but only if you wore them exclusively for work and nowhere else.
It’s a psychological trigger: one that’s all about putting yourself into the right mindset for a productive business day by simply by making a conscious effort to pick the clothing you'll wear to your Place of Work.
