Did you know you can succeed at work by paying attention to what you wear at home? If you are a busy working mother you probably have some degree of awareness and control over your work image. You want to look good and turn up looking like you’re ready to get going and give it 100%.
But what are you wearing at the weekend?
Are you paying as much attention to what you wear on Saturday and Sunday as you are Monday through Friday?
This post will:
- address why a good home wardrobe can be an advantage in the workplace and why it’s important to keep them separate, and
- give you some initial steps towards balancing up the strengths of your two wardrobes.
TGIF
We imagine that when we finally arrive at the weekend via Friday night’s sigh of relief, that it will be different to the week.
We think that because our week is dominated by agendas set by other people, that the weekend will be different. We will set the agenda. We will have time for ourselves. Time to breathe. Time to do what we want.
The reality is often not like that.
But it is just as important that you have a positive home image too. As our weekends can be so busy we sometimes feel we have to just go with the flow.
It can feel like a race to the finish. We start at 8am on Saturday and go!go!go! until 8pm on Sunday.
Home Work Life Balance is hard
Home work balance is hard, especially when you factor your family life into the equation.
Even as we are imagining a weekend without competing agendas or packed diaries, our brain is conveniently avoiding the fact that our weekend is already overcrowded.
Overcrowded with the often competing diaries of multiple family members.
And guess what! You get to be chauffeur, cook and party planner, not to mention chef, peace keeper and major domo.
So what happens, invariably, is that we have a brief moment on Friday evening where we breathe a huge sigh of relief….
The reality of Saturday morning
…Before we wake up on Saturday morning, hit the ground running, coffee in a cup, and off we go!
Even though you look great all week, on Saturday morning you haven’t planned what you are going to wear. You didn’t need to, remember?
You were tricked into thinking you’d just be able to chill out all weekend. Instead of which it’s 7.40 on Saturday morning and you’re probably dropping one child off at the activity before dashing to the supermarket to get home by 10am, in order to drop someone else off somewhere else.
I get it. I’ve been there. I’m there most Weekends, Coronavirus has temporarily halted it, but I know the reality of it.
When you’re busy, looking great is the last thing on your mind
The last thing on your mind is what to wear
What I want to suggest to you today is that what you intentionally wear at the weekend has an effect, negatively or positively, on your performance at work during the week. I believe that it’s as important to ensure that your home image is as strong as your work image. This will not only give you a great balance in your life. It also has the power to increase your performance at work. You can succeed at work by paying attention to what you wear at home.
Why a good home wardrobe can be an advantage in the workplace
This is the reason why what you wear at home at the weekends can have such a positive impact on your performance and happiness at work:
When you know exactly what you are going to wear at the weekend, and when you are intentional about it, then you are controlling the events in your weekend.
Choosing what to wear is a powerful statement about oneself.
Choosing what to wear for a particular event, even if the event itself is mundane, creates an intention around that event.
This intentionality is what will create a timetable for your weekend.
It’s what is going to mark your weekend’s activities and give them structure.
Clothing is not about retail therapy, it’s about intentionality
Do not underestimate what your clothes can do for you. Clothing is not about retail therapy, it’s actually about intentionality in living one’s life to the full.
When you are deciding on your outfits for the weekend, aim to do so as fully as you possibly can. Here are some examples to give you an idea:
Examples of what to wear
Summer walk in the park/lunch in the pub: Coordinate your dress, cardigan, shoes, scar, summer hat, sunglasses, bag. Plus whatever else you like to wear.
Trip to supermarket (no event too mundane for attention!): jeans, wedge heels or stylish trainers, top, jacket, good belt, large slouchy bag.
Summer dinner out with significant other: dress, shoes, great bag, wrap, jewellery.
Do you get the idea? It’s about marking the events in your weekend with your clothes. And you need to be intentional about it all weekend.
Top tip: – for the first couple of months plan your weekends in advance, writing it all down if necessary. Make sure everything is clean and ready to wear.
Being intentional gives you control
The advantage that you gain in being intentional about your weekend’s clothes is control.
Control, by which I mean “organisation” rather than “tight anxious grip on”, leads to peace and calm and you being much more relaxed.
Because you have controlled the weekend through what you wear, you will be calmer and more organised when making the transition back to work on Sunday night/Monday morning. Your transition back to your work life will be so much smoother because your weekend hasn’t been a whirlwind of total exhaustion. Even if you have a really busy weekend and not one you were planning, stick to your wardrobe plan. This small step of discipline and self control has the power to keep your whole week on an even keel. This is why I believe you succeed at work by paying attention to what you wear at home
How to plan to succeed at work by paying attention to what you wear at home
- On Wednesday (or thereabouts) start to think about the weekend. What you will be doing, what you need to do.
- Think about what you are going to wear.
- Write down what you are going to wear.
- Create a second list of any items that need cleaning or ironing. Will your shoes need cleaning?
- Add a fun section of accessories: sunglasses, gloves, scarves, straw hat, winter hat
- Divide the days into two if you are going out in the evening, having people round and will be getting changed. You can get changed without a reason, though, and I do recommend that. It’s a great reset to the day.
- Is there anything else you are going to do? Exercise for example. Or walk the dog. Or look after other animals. Anything else that requires different clothing. Again, make a list of anything that will need cleaning alongside the list of what you are going to wear.
- Know when you will be cleaning/tidying/sorting. It’s one thing to plan what you are going to wear. It’s another to make sure that everything is ready.
- Prepare your weekend wardrobe so it’s ready by Friday when you go to bed. You can get the clothes out, folded and ready, or you can group them in your wardrobe.
- Saturday morning. Yes! Organisation, control, peace and calm. Plus you look great
Conquering weekend overwhelm
I know weekends can be hard. I often feel like I work twice as hard at the weekend as I do during the week. The times when I feel stressed or overwhelmed are the times when I haven’t planned well enough in advance and I’m cooking Sunday lunch, while still in my running gear. However, if I’ve planned out how my weekends will roll out, plus I’ve planned a great outfit to wear that I love, then i might be doing exactly the same tasks, but my attitude and my mental state has totally changed.
Try it. I hope it does you as much good as it has me.
Have a great day.
Sarah
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