UTSKRIFT 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.279
Welcome back to working from home with Shanna.
00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:11.599
And this is the place to be if you've ever felt like your home is slowly turning into your office or your office into your home.
00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:13.519
And I want you to know that you're not alone.
00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:19.280
I'm Shanna and I've spent years designing spaces that help people live and work better.
00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:24.559
And that is what this podcast is all about finding that balance under one roof.
00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:31.760
Today's episode is about the things that are sometimes so easy, but we need to put a little bit more effort in.
00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.719
So in this one, I'm talking about the pajama question.
00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:45.759
Okay, so working from home makes it easy to skip certain things like getting dressed, and so easy to roll straight out of bed into work mode with no real starting point.
00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:58.399
And today I'm gonna share what happened when someone in my program asked if this could be part of their commute, and why I never even thought to put it on a on the commute list, and why I get dressed every day.
00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:13.120
And we're gonna talk a little bit about the research about the commute as its mental transition into your work role and also the enclosed cognition studies on how what we wear shapes what we think, which is really fascinating.
00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:21.680
We're also gonna get into a little bit of what Jane clears, what he talks about, and his idea about that every action is a vote for who you are becoming.
00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:28.799
Okay, there's also a little spoiler, we're gonna be talking about a big tattooed muscular biker in his pajamas.
00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:30.640
You'll see all about that.
00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:32.799
Okay, so let's get straight into it.
00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:38.480
What we're talking about today is the concept of it's so easy, right?
00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.640
It's so easy not to get dressed for work and show up in your pajamas.
00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:48.879
It's so easy not to make a clear starting point to your day and just roll into work mode.
00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:50.239
A lot of us do it.
00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:53.760
It's just it's easy, and that's the problem here.
00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:57.760
Okay, so all these easy things, they're not doing you any favors.
00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:01.200
The choices we make end up defining our day.
00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:03.599
So today we're talking about getting dressed.
00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:10.800
And yes, I want you to stick with me because the it seems like it's a super simple thing to talk about.
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.080
Obviously, get dressed, but it's even more than that.
00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:16.159
It's about how are you getting dressed?
00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:17.599
What are you trying to say?
00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:31.599
So recently in my online program, I was explaining about this new commute to work and how it's all about clearing a path to work, and it can be cleaning up, clearing out a space, and just using it as your day-to-day thing.
00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:36.240
And so one of the women asked if it could also be like getting dressed, and I was like, what are you talking about?
00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:42.240
And she said she pretty much shows up in her pajamas and only really gets dressed later when she has to leave the house, pick up her kids.
00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:53.759
That was a little shocking, but it also really made me stop and think because of course I didn't think about adding it to the goal of the commute for two reasons.
00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.039
Reason number one is I always get dressed.
00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:02.879
And number two, I don't ever want to take a perk of working from home away.
00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.960
I know that people love working from home because of the perks.
00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:10.319
So people always say they want the work perks of working from home.
00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.560
And I want it to be appealing.
00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:17.680
Working from home can be a huge benefit, but it's how we work from home.
00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:24.960
So in his book uh atomic habits, James Clear talks about making habits attractive and making them easy.
00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:32.400
And his point is that we don't just stick with habits because we should, we stick with the ones that pull us in and don't fight us.
00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:41.439
So if getting dress means stiff trousers and shoes that pinch, you're gonna have to, you're gonna want to quit by Wednesday.
00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:43.280
So it can't feel like a punishment.
00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:46.319
It has to be something you actually want to do.
00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:52.080
Which reminded me of a reel I made on my Instagram page that I thought was silly and cute and fun.
00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:56.400
I got dressed and flashed a fancy outfit, but my feet were in slippers.
00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:57.759
So it was professional.
00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.800
I looked really professional, but I was comfy.
00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:07.520
So I was like, yay, I'm doing both, and you can do both, and you're not losing the perk of being comfortable but still getting dressed.
00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:21.519
And reason number two, I never thought to add it to the commute, as I said before, is I always get dressed because I have always found that, like from early on working from home, that when I get dressed, it sends a message to my brain.
00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:25.680
It sends a message of you are working today, you are a professional.
00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:34.800
Whether or not anyone else will see you, I get dressed for my best self because I know that it affects me and I know that that I show up differently.
00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:41.920
Okay, so it turns out that actually
Load full transcript
research has been reach have been poking at exactly this.
00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:50.000
In 2012, there was a study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and they gave the idea a great name.
00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:52.399
They called it enclosed cognition.
00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:56.800
So they had people do attention tasks while wearing a white lab coat.
00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:05.680
Now, when people were told this was a doctor's coat, they did better than people that were wearing exactly the same coat, but it was called a painter's coat.
00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:07.120
Okay, so this is crazy.
00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:12.079
So just seeing that doctor's coat sitting on the desk didn't do it.
00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:15.199
Their conclusion was that it takes two things together.
00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:21.680
The clothes have to mean something to you, and you have to actually be wearing them.
00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:29.839
And there's a lot of back and forth about this study, but I really care about research that holds up.
00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:32.959
So here's the honest part about that study.
00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:42.560
In 2019, another team tried to repeat that original lab code attention result with a much more rigorous design and they couldn't find the effect.
00:05:42.720 --> 00:06:05.600
But later, a big review pulled together around 40 studies on the enclosed cognition, and it found that early studies are shaky, but the studies that were done after 2015, when the research standard in psychology got a lot stricter, do support the core idea that what we wear influences how we think, feel, and act.
00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:10.639
So, one thing worth knowing that the original researchers were part of that review team.
00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:14.800
So the lab coat magic trick, let's call it, probably oversold.
00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:17.600
But the bigger idea still stands.
00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:23.920
What you put on is not neutral, it's a message, and your brain is the first one reading it.
00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:29.360
I love James Clear's book about atomic habit, and but he has a line for it too.
00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:34.639
He says, every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.
00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.399
So getting dressed is a vote.
00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.560
It's a small one, but you get to cast it every single morning.
00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:51.680
So the concept of it being part of this person's commute who brought it up for me, it was it was really amazing because the commute is a mindset transition.
00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:58.560
So it got me thinking about the morning commute not only being as a physical transition, but also as a mindset transition.
00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:05.759
So we start our day with the intention to, excuse my language, get shit done, all right, be badass at our job.
00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:40.720
But there's research behind it because in 2020 guy, John Jackie Mowitz, I'm probably saying it wrong, and his colleagues published a study in organizational science looking at the commute as a role transition, that in-between space, where you stop being home and you start being at work, and they found that people who use their commute to think ahead about their work role, what they wanted to get done, what who they wanted to be that day were less worn down by these long commutes and drives, and the researchers called it role clarifying perspection.
00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:43.519
And I call it getting your head in the game.
00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.160
So here's the thing for us, right?
00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:49.680
When you work from home, that in-between space kind of disappears.
00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:53.600
You go from duvet to desk in maybe 11 steps, if you're lucky.
00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:57.680
So the transition doesn't happen unless you make it happen.
00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:06.800
And getting dressed is one of the simplest ways to do it because it's physical, it's visible, and it happens every single day.
00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:10.639
So let me tell you what I wanted to say about the biker.
00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:20.560
Even though we know it could be easy, I want you to picture this in your mind: a big, hairy, possibly muscular, tattooed biker in his pajamas on his Harley.
00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:24.480
It wouldn't give you the right kind of vibe or feeling.
00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:33.120
We could all, and probably would honestly be a little bit worried about that poor guy who couldn't be bothered to put on his leather jacket and bandana.
00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:36.720
And it would be bad rep for bikers everywhere.
00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:40.080
Because that leather jacket isn't just a jacket.
00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:47.919
It's how he tells himself and everyone on the road, I'm a rider, I'm part of something, and your clothes can do that for you.
00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:55.039
So, what I want us to take from this for today, let's just make it easy, let's make it attractive.
00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.200
Okay, that's how the habit's gonna stick.
00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:08.799
So if you're someone who is a slow morning person, maybe try and pick the outfit the night before, or the morning shouldn't be complex and you don't shouldn't have to make those choices.
00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:13.120
So make the decision once you're calm and then just put it on.
00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:19.200
And I want you to know that you can choose comfortable, but on purpose purpose.
00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:26.960
So, like soft pro trousers or an easy dress or a top you feel good in, and keep the slipper slippers on if you want them, okay?
00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:30.000
Because comfort was never the enemy.
00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.440
We get to choose how we show up.
00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:43.519
And just to add one finishing touch that says, you know, earrings, a watch, maybe some people even need to do a little bit of lipstick, spritz of your favorite perfume.
00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:50.159
It's a small cue, but it's a big message because at the end of the day, it's really important how we show up.
00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:59.919
And then maybe towards the end of your day to, you know, have your commute back home could be getting undressed and dressed more in your gym clothes or something more comfortable.
00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:05.600
Because the the idea of the reverse commute can also work, using the trip home to step out of your work roll.
00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:11.039
So you can swap into evening clothes and home clothes and let work stay at work.
00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:19.039
So basically, next time you're feeling that you can just roll out of bed and into your desk, I want you to stop and think again.
00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:28.960
How would the best version of yourself still be able to be comfortable but show up to work respecting yourself, your craft, your biker gang?
00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:33.120
Okay, your loud slippers leather jacket is optional.
00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:46.159
And don't forget to enjoy the perks of working from home while being home and still making it a very good space that is empowering to the work that you do.
00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:48.000
So thanks for being here today.
00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:52.480
I just want to remind you that I see a brighter, lighter future for you, and it's just around the corner.
00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:56.240
Don't forget to subscribe or write in to any questions that you have.
00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:58.320
I'd love to hear from you.
00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:00.000
Have a great day.