Getting dressed for work takes some effort. You have to buy the right clothes, choose what you want to wear each day, and think about how the way you dress affects the way people see you. Some people like to use their clothes as a way to call attention to themselves, while others are not interested in having their clothes make a statement.
While there are always some special occasions at work when you want to think carefully about what you wear that day, there are probably many days when you would like to be able to get up and choose an outfit quickly, because there are more important things you have to do in the morning before you head out the door for another day.
For that reason, it is helpful to develop a uniform for yourself. That is, a simple look that allows you to make at most a small number of choices that allow you to get dressed and ready. Of course, your uniform need not be an identical set of outfits the way Steve Jobs adopted a black turtleneck and jeans (famously copied by Elizabeth Holmes).
Here are a few considerations as you develop that uniform.
Stand out or blend in
In any environment, there is a certain amount of similarity in the way people around you dress. Those patterns of style set expectations about what people with different roles within your organization typically wear and how that is affected by other factors like gender.
Your choice of uniform affects whether other people are likely to notice your clothes. The more that you dress similarly to others, the less that your appearance is going to be a factor that makes you leap out of the environment to others. To the extent that you select clothes that display a more individual style, you are inviting others to notice you because of what youre wearing.
You should decide whether youre comfortable with the impact of the decision you make. When you wear something that you feel will call attention to itself, that can influence how you feel when walking the hallways, going to a meeting, or even sitting in a public area having lunch. If you dont like that sort of attention, then a unique outfit is likely to make you uncomfortable. If you dont mind the occasional smile from coworkers or comments about your clothes, then a more individual style can be a welcome point of conversation.
Of course, you do want to be aware of the difference between friendly conversations about how youre dressed and comments that veer toward harassment. Talk to a supervisor or your HR rep if you get comments that make you uncomfortable. Everyone should have the chance to display their individual style without fear of unwanted advances.
Dress up or dress down
One of the dimensions of difference across people in a particular role is whether they tend to dress more formally or more casually relative to their peers. Casual dress tends to lean toward outfits that are more strongly associated with leisure rather than work. More formal dress is often associated with people higher up in the work hierarchy.
Casual dress evokes a less serious attitude about work. That doesnt mean that people who dress casually work less hard. But, they are dressing in a way that creates the impression that work is not a strong driving force in their lives. As a result, casual dress is often easier for people to get away with when they have more power within the organization. That power enables them to overcome the initial impression conveyed by their outfit.
When you have relatively less power (or are trying to make a positive impression about your workplace attitude), then dressing more formally than is required is an easy way to leave an initial impression of your dedication to the work you do.
When in doubt, find a guide
Choosing a work uniform (particularly if youre new to an organization or a role) can create some stress. Before investing in your clothes, take a look at other people around you. In particular, notice the ones whose sense of style you admire. What is it about the way that they are dressing that leads them to look comfortable in their surroundings?
You need not copy the people whose uniforms you admire. Instead, you want to learn from them. Think about how those people are conveying something about themselves through their work attire. Then, think about what you would like to say about yourself.
If youre like most people, you may be able to answer the question of what you want your clothes to say about you, but you may have more trouble figuring out how to get your clothing to say it. Thats where you should seek help. If youre very lucky, you have a friend who knows a lot about clothing who can take you shopping to help you develop your uniform.
If not, find a clothing store with a well-trained sales staff. Talk to the staff about how you want your clothes to make you feel and what you want to communicate to others by your look. Let them help you pick out a couple of combinations that will convey that message.
Of course, the stores that have great staff are often (somewhat) pricy. If youre shopping on a limited wallet, then pick one or two outfits from that store as a baseline for the rest of your work uniform. Use what you learned to pick similar things at a store that fits your budget.
Also, remember that your ideas about the ideal uniform will change over the years. That is going to reflect a variety of factors including your growing confidence in yourself over the course of your career, changes in your role within an organization, and changes in the amount of money you feel like spending on clothes at different points in your life. As a result, you may go through this exercise periodically to reset your look.
Imagine youre Mark Zuckerberg. What does an average day at work look like for you?
Most people with experience in management would probably guess the Facebook boss spends his working hours in an endless series of meetings. Maybe he even schedules his time down to the minute like his fellow billionaires Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
But when Zuckerberg sat down for a fireside chat with Stripe co-founder John Collison recently and described his productivity system, it looked nothing like the overscheduled meeting mania many leaders suffer through. Instead, Zuckerberg claimed favors an alternate approach to productivity (and sanity) favored by many other superachievers, from Google executives to Albert Einstein.
Its called the 80% rule.
Why Mark Zuckerberg avoids one-on-one meetings
The relevant portion of the conversation kicks off when Collison asks Zuckerberg how he organizes his time “to actually spend time on the things that you think are valuable for the company.
Its a key question faced not just by the CEOs of multibillion-dollar behemoths but by everyday small-business owners and middle managers too. Which makes Zuckerbergs answer even more fascinating.
While he talks to his team informally frequentlyI talk to all these people more than they want to talk to me, he jokesZuckerberg generally tries to avoid standing, regular one-on-one meetings.
Instead, he tells Collison, I try to generally keep a bunch of time open in his schedule.
Why? Stuff is pretty dynamic and you wake up in the morning and you’re like, Okay, I need to work on these three things today. I want to make sure that I have a block of time where I can go do that, he explains.
Slack in his schedule allows Zuckerberg to be more agile, but it also helps him keep an even keel mentally.
I get really frustrated and in a bad mood if my whole day is scheduled and there’s a thing that I know is really important and I don’t get time to do it because I’m sitting in other things that are not the most important thing to be doing, he complains. You have too many days like that in a row and I just like explode.
Which is why hes such a firm believer in keeping a meaningful amount of your time open. That way we can have space for reflection and self-development and respond to issues as they rise.
Googlers call Zuckerbergs approach the 80% rule
Zuckerberg may use the vague phrase keep a meaningful amount of time open when describing his approach to productivity. But there is a more formal and precise way to think about this principle.
Laura Mae Martin, Googles in-house productivity coach, helps the search giants execs make the best use of their time. She calls this idea the 80% rule. It states you should schedule only about 80% of your days. Leave 20% open to absorb whatever craziness comes up.
I always tell people, shoot to under-commit because you end up then committing at the right level. Shoot to that 80%, and thats really where you end up being involved in the right amount of things, Martin explained on the HBR IdeaCast.
Superachievers and productivity experts swear by the 80% rule
Data obsessed Google might have formulated a precise rule for the trick of leaving slack in your schedule, but a variety of superachievers have, like Zuckerberg, intuited and applied this basic logic over the years.
Einstein was famous for leaving big chunks of time in his schedule open to tinker and think. But the approach doesn’t just work for dreamy scientists. Steve Jobs was another superachiever with a legendarily open schedule.
Various productivity experts have come to the same conclusion too. More than 20 years ago, software engineer Tom DeMarco wrote a whole book arguing for what is basically the 80% rule. Titled Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency (Crown Currrency), it explains that when your days are too full you cant absorb the inevitable shocks and surprises that arise. You end up getting less done in the long run than if you kept a looser schedule.
Sociologist Christine Carter is another author who wrote a book advocating for strategic slacking. Journalist Oliver Burkeman has a number of bestsellers focused on less rigorous scheduling.
I dont embark on each day as if on a tightrope walk, needing everything to go exactly right in order for me to make it through the plan, he writes.
What percentage of your day is scheduled?
Zuckerberg might not call his approach to scheduling the 80% rule, but the underlying principle is identical. And there are advantages to using Martins more precise formulation to describe the idea.
First, its catchy. The 80% rule is more memorable than just saying, Hey, um, maybe its like a good idea to leave some meaningful time open in your schedule.
Its also a exact target to aim for. With a hard number in hand, leaders can review their calendars and make adjustments. Which is just what Zuckerbergs recent interview should probably nudge you to do. What percentage of your days are currently booked up in advance?
If the Meta boss can manage to clear enough space to have time for strategic thinking and quick pivots, certainly you can too. A boatload of experts suggests youll get more done if you schedule less.
By Jessica Stillman
This article originally appeared on Fast Company‘s sister website, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
