Meet the snuggliest bathrobe in the world. My sister gave it to me for Christmas one year, and it’s the one good thing about cold weather.

If I’m not careful, I will get distracted by my computer while still in this robe in the morning and then spend the entire day in it. Other days, Ive changed into sweats and a tee shirt, but no bra, and called myself “dressed”.  Then I’ve wondered why I’ve felt so unmotivated.

I began to suspect my dress code had something to do with it when I made it to 5:00 p.m. without a bra a few weeks ago. “Why bother putting one on now?” I argued to myself. “The day’s almost over.” For some reason, I didn’t listen to myself and put one on anyways. What a difference. I immediately felt sharper, more energized and more engaged.

When Tina visited New York, one of the many topics we discussed during our shopping trip on November 4 was the effect of dress in the workplace on our perception of ourselves and on others’ perceptions of us. Having been a middle and high school English teacher, I knew all the arguments for good dress codes amongst students, and I had always subscribed to them.  On a personal level, it was never an issue for me because I loved to dress up for work as a teacher and later as an attorney.

It became a big issue for me, however, when I began working from home in 2009. None of the old dress codes applied anymore–not even Casual Friday! It was a long process, but somewhere in 2011, I finally became comfortable with my new identity as a blogger and small business owner. My closet is beginning to catch up. It’s taken several purges, but the items hanging there now are much closer to expressing who I am today than who I was four years ago.

Now the challenge is to wear these clothes daily, whether or not I have any commitments outside my home office. That’s easier said than done for me. I tend to need a lot of external prompts. Just as I work better with a deadline staring me in the face, I tend to dress better with an appointment looming minutes ahead of me.

So since November 5, I’ve been keeping an appointment with my camera every week day. I don’t have any co-workers to see what I wear each day, but I have you! You may or may not be interested, but I’ve created a Pinterest page called Darlene’s November OOTD Challenge to hold me accountable. Every week day for the rest of this month, I will wear something that I could walk out of the house in, including shoes.  If I fail on any day, you’ll see a photo of my snuggly robe.

So far I’ve been keeping up pretty well, and I’m learning some new things to put into practice and to keep me on my toes with blogging. If this month’s challenge turns out to be a success, it’d be fun to set up challenges for you to participate in as well. Is there anything you’d like to be held accountable for in the month of December . . . or the New Year?