If you’re a clothes lover like me, you might be immediately horrified by the idea of having any type of uniform. I’ve come around to the idea of a personal uniform recently, so let me explain what it is and its benefits, then you can decide if it’s something you’d like to try out too. A personal uniform is basically your go-to style or items of clothing. It may differ for your work self and your free-time self. It can be as specific or broad as you’d like. For me, I’ve realized that I can be quite lazy when picking out outfits, especially in the morning. Because of this laziness, I gravitate towards throwing on one piece items: dresses, jumpsuits, etc. If I am going to put on two items of clothing, my go-to is stretchy skinny jeans and a loose fit casual top. This is mostly because I believe my better features are on my lower half. I really enjoy bright colors and jewel tones. I also loooveee shoes, so often my shoes are the most exciting part of my outfit. That allows me to keep my looks fresh and fun while still keeping within my personal uniform.
The main benefit of a personal uniform is to ward off decision fatigue. We make micro decisions throughout the day which eventually exhausts us from being able to make good decisions altogether. That’s one reason why your healthy eating may fall apart at nighttime. Barrack Obama and Steve Jobs are just two examples of very powerful people who had a go to uniform so that they could save their decision making skills for their job, which they, and likely the rest of the world, thought was much more important.
Now that I’ve figured all of this out about my style, I get ready much faster in the morning and I’m better at shopping. Rather than buying clothes all willy nilly, I buy more of my “uniform”, knowing that I’ll get good use out of those items. Any items that are outside of the styles I described above, I think a bit harder about when and how I’ll actually get around to wearing them. This keeps me from buying items that only my fantasy self will wear.
Another way that a uniform can come in handy is if you’re going to a lot of the same events, but with different people. For example, it really streamlines your life if you have a go-to interview outfit and/or a go-to first date outfit. Not having to pick out a new outfit takes a lot of nerves out of these events that can be stressful enough on their own.
It’s great to have outfits that you know you feel comfortable in and you know you look good in them. It can also be really fun when someone associates a certain style or color with you. Anytime they see it, they’ll think of you. There’s no wrong way to do a personal uniform, as long as you feel good about it and it makes your life a little bit easier!
Your Turn: Do you have a personal uniform? What is it and how has it helped improve your life?