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?
well done Darlene! Hope it has given you motivation like I described it gives me even if I work from home, tomorrow a home office day and already thinking of what I’ll wear 🙂 I’m still wearing my Wallis dress that I wore to work but just removed the jacket and tights I wore with it to work and about to go to bed. Just love feeling pretty and db likes it too much more than the pjs no bra look I so often wear during the weekends until I need to get out of the house to run arronds:D
I so relate to this. The whole working from home thing can easily turn into yoga pants and t-shirts 24/7. Can others join you in this challenge? I need to dress up more, and do more dress reviews for my blog.
Of course others can join! Let me know if you’d like me to include you as a contributor to the Pinterest page, and you can post your daily outfits for the remainder of this month as well.
top tip for managing to put on a bra first thing in the morning when getting dressed, works at least brilliantly for me. If possible try to have your fav bras in the bathroom. I have a special drawer there so I can put undies on already there (but that also means I end up wondering around in them trying to think what I’ll wear when I’m having a home office day…).
This is an excellent idea! Now to fix the ventilation in our bathroom so that everything doesn’t become a soggy mess.
I’m a SAHM of 2 but the same applies here. If I don’t leave the house I am in an ill fitting sleep bra and jammies (I’m never braless. Not a comfortable or good look for 34HH). And when I do get dressed I notice an immediate difference in my mood and outlook. It really is quite depressing when I’m in my jammies all day. I’m dealing with a lot of stress right now and I think getiing dressed every morning could help me deal with the day a lot better and get more organized. I’m gonna take the challenge too. Thanks for the great idea.
Yay! Welcome, Bizzy. Let me know if you’d also like to be added as a contributor to my Pinterest board.
This is definitely something I can relate to- with grad school I feel pretty good about my level of dressiness if I’m not in sweats, but this week I had to head into federal buildings almost every day and so needed to dress a bit better. It was the first time people have assumed I was a college graduate as opposed to still being in undergrad, or worse, high school.
That being said, it’s term paper time so I’m going to be lazy for the next weeks until my position starts up and I have to start dressing up again.
You definitely get a pass, Katie!
I started working from home last November. It was not long before I realized that to be at my most effective I needed to dress. After 25 yrs of business suits I consider it my uniform for battle, and am just not prepared or as sharp mentally without proper attire. While I don’t go all the way to suits – I do dress. Slacks,skirts, blazers, sweaters, heels – more professional business casual but it does make a difference. I positively can not take a telecon without a bra on. My husband laughs at me but its true. It took me a month for my husband to stop asking me “Where are you going” when I came down dressed every day.
It occurred to me tonight that while I’ve been working at home in PJs just fine, I need to wear a bra for my mental acuity and my back health. Having a bra on helps me feel a little bit more awake, much like BusyVP feels. But more importantly, I tend to adopt a terrible posture on my laptop (I know, I know) and the bra helps prevent back pain. Strangely enough, if I’m moving around the house, I can get away with mild or no support.