4 ms·

This trick might sound strange, but it worked well for me: Just dress the same in the morning as you would if you would go into the office, and at the end of t

This trick might sound strange, but it worked well for me: Just dress the same in the morning as you would if you would go into the office, and at the end of the day, take off the work clothes and dress as you would normally at home. Some makes this even further and go out for a walk around the block so they "arrive at the office" and walk again at the end of the day to "walk home". Really sounds strange and funny, but it helps to put your mind in the right mood.

RSHEPP 6y ago
Plus dressing well for work gives a sense of confidence, even when you are not around other people. I wear nice shoes at my home desk even though I never walk outside.
- eertami 6y ago
  Being comfortable is far better for confidence than "dressing well" in my experience. I would never wear shoes in my home and I work in pyjamas mostly. However if shoes or clothes make you comfortable then by all means, but I doubt this makes a difference for everyone.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    It's always worth remembering in these conversations that the thing which for you is a MUST MUST MUST do, doesn't matter for someone else. Personally, when I started working from home more way back when, I definitely did things like dress up business casual, worked from my home office, etc. These days, I pretty much break all the rules. It's a case of being reasonably disciplined about working hours while still having some flexibility. I guess I've internalized a loose routine to the point where I don't need the props any longer.
sdoering 6y ago
This. I cannot recommend this strongly enough. I stopped doing this during the German soft lockdown and it backfired totally. While I was still dressing for work, the moment I stopped working in the evening and went for a walk I was able to unwind and let my work mode brain come to rest. I started doing this again after some days in the office when working from home and it helped tremendously.
varispeed 6y ago
I have a lab coat with my name and company on it and I put it on in the morning and take it off after I close all work apps. Neat trick.
- InitialLastName 6y ago
  The neat trick is "Show HN: My computer switches to my work profile when I put on my lab coat"
- sixdimensional 6y ago
  Doctor, doctor!
Wohlf 6y ago
Routine and context change can make a big difference.
hosh 6y ago
It's not that strange. These are the kind of tricks I learned from NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and helps orient the psychology. It is certainly why I make my daughter dress for school and change out of it after the school day is done, even if it is online school.
- abdussamit 6y ago
  Can you please expand on how you learnt that from NLP? Did you do a degree? If yes, then in what and where from? Also, would be great and I'd highly appreciate if you could share some resources to them, I'll also Google meanwhile. That stuff has also excited me!
  - s1t5 6y ago
    It's pseudoscience and there are no degrees in it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming
- zackmorris 6y ago
  I studied NLP recreationally back around my last year of college in maybe 1999? as part of http://www.pickupguide.com http://www.pickupguide.com . That site along with the show Mad Men probably taught me more about relationships and the business world than I ever learned in school. Thankfully I was able to forget it and move on sometime in the mid 2000s haha. Anyway, something related that has helped me immensely is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I had the worst burnout of my life starting a year before COVID-19 hit, due to some struggles with work and sleep apnea leading to digestive issues (leaky gut to IBS/IBD) I didn't know about. I woke up more tired than I had ever been, every single day, and my whole body hurt like I was hungover and getting arthritis, even though I was going to the gym. Anyway, I got an appliance to fix my bite, isolated the problems with my diet to an inability to digest legumes and nightshades (see Dr. Gundry for more info), but even after doing everything right, I was still burned out. I finally isolated that to untreated ADHD symptoms that snowballed into severely negative self-talk. At the time, I could barely get out of bed and brush my teeth in the morning. It was kind of like I had a stroke, and lost the pathways responsible for problem solving. I went through the motions of the chores I had to do each day, and switched from criticizing myself to repeating the mantra "I'm excited", since anxiety and excitement are experienced identically by the body. Any time I had a negative thought, I noted it like with meditation and set it aside, or actively reworked it into a positive spin on the situation, even if it was in terms of a positive outcome for someone else, or progress towards a long term goal of mine. Sort of a self-administered form of CBT. I was able to learn new habits every 2 weeks or so, and finally recruited the rest of my brain to take over for the parts that had quit working. I started on the road to recovery about 6 months after the fallout with my work, and was effectively cured over the next 2-3 months. The other main tool that finally got me out of the hole was to separate my plans from their execution by creating temporary todo lists. It turns out that I also had executive dysfunction from trying to hold huge problem spaces in my head for too long. It was like I ran out of room in my brain's hard drive and it began thrashing. Now that I am no longer burned out or depressed, I've also noticed that the dormant problem-solving pathways have reawakened. So luckily I don't have to relearn the technical skills from before. I've been doing handyman work and spend a lot of time daydreaming about what I'd like to accomplish on the computer, so when I sit down to it, it's easier to overcome starting friction. I'm focusing on having no lost days, and treating every checked off item on my todo list as a victory, rather than criticizing myself for lack of productivity.
mankins 6y ago
I learned this hack from Mr. Rogers. :)
sixdimensional 6y ago
Reminds me of the book “ Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World” by Admiral McRaven. Basic premise is just making your bed in the morning sets a psychological tone for the day.
btgeekboy 6y ago
I still wear a collared shirt and do my hair even though we're WFH. In addition to the above, it looks more professional when I'm on camera for work, which is also the only visual impression my team and managers have of me.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
xxpor 6y ago
>Just dress the same in the morning as you would if you would go into the office, and at the end of the day, take off the work clothes and dress as you would normally at home Tech bro problems: These are the exact same things for me
- joshuahaglund 6y ago
  I've used a work hat and/or work shoes as a reminder to myself and my roommates that I'm working. Not like a hard hat, just things I wouldn't normally wear, that I wear "at" work.

RSHEPP 6y ago

Plus dressing well for work gives a sense of confidence, even when you are not around other people. I wear nice shoes at my home desk even though I never walk outside.

eertami 6y ago
Being comfortable is far better for confidence than "dressing well" in my experience. I would never wear shoes in my home and I work in pyjamas mostly. However if shoes or clothes make you comfortable then by all means, but I doubt this makes a difference for everyone.
- ghaff 6y ago
  It's always worth remembering in these conversations that the thing which for you is a MUST MUST MUST do, doesn't matter for someone else. Personally, when I started working from home more way back when, I definitely did things like dress up business casual, worked from my home office, etc. These days, I pretty much break all the rules. It's a case of being reasonably disciplined about working hours while still having some flexibility. I guess I've internalized a loose routine to the point where I don't need the props any longer.

sdoering 6y ago

This. I cannot recommend this strongly enough. I stopped doing this during the German soft lockdown and it backfired totally. While I was still dressing for work, the moment I stopped working in the evening and went for a walk I was able to unwind and let my work mode brain come to rest. I started doing this again after some days in the office when working from home and it helped tremendously.

varispeed 6y ago

I have a lab coat with my name and company on it and I put it on in the morning and take it off after I close all work apps. Neat trick.

InitialLastName 6y ago
The neat trick is "Show HN: My computer switches to my work profile when I put on my lab coat"
sixdimensional 6y ago
Doctor, doctor!

Wohlf 6y ago

Routine and context change can make a big difference.

hosh 6y ago

It's not that strange. These are the kind of tricks I learned from NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and helps orient the psychology. It is certainly why I make my daughter dress for school and change out of it after the school day is done, even if it is online school.

abdussamit 6y ago
Can you please expand on how you learnt that from NLP? Did you do a degree? If yes, then in what and where from? Also, would be great and I'd highly appreciate if you could share some resources to them, I'll also Google meanwhile. That stuff has also excited me!
- s1t5 6y ago
  It's pseudoscience and there are no degrees in it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming
zackmorris 6y ago
I studied NLP recreationally back around my last year of college in maybe 1999? as part of http://www.pickupguide.com http://www.pickupguide.com . That site along with the show Mad Men probably taught me more about relationships and the business world than I ever learned in school. Thankfully I was able to forget it and move on sometime in the mid 2000s haha. Anyway, something related that has helped me immensely is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I had the worst burnout of my life starting a year before COVID-19 hit, due to some struggles with work and sleep apnea leading to digestive issues (leaky gut to IBS/IBD) I didn't know about. I woke up more tired than I had ever been, every single day, and my whole body hurt like I was hungover and getting arthritis, even though I was going to the gym. Anyway, I got an appliance to fix my bite, isolated the problems with my diet to an inability to digest legumes and nightshades (see Dr. Gundry for more info), but even after doing everything right, I was still burned out. I finally isolated that to untreated ADHD symptoms that snowballed into severely negative self-talk. At the time, I could barely get out of bed and brush my teeth in the morning. It was kind of like I had a stroke, and lost the pathways responsible for problem solving. I went through the motions of the chores I had to do each day, and switched from criticizing myself to repeating the mantra "I'm excited", since anxiety and excitement are experienced identically by the body. Any time I had a negative thought, I noted it like with meditation and set it aside, or actively reworked it into a positive spin on the situation, even if it was in terms of a positive outcome for someone else, or progress towards a long term goal of mine. Sort of a self-administered form of CBT. I was able to learn new habits every 2 weeks or so, and finally recruited the rest of my brain to take over for the parts that had quit working. I started on the road to recovery about 6 months after the fallout with my work, and was effectively cured over the next 2-3 months. The other main tool that finally got me out of the hole was to separate my plans from their execution by creating temporary todo lists. It turns out that I also had executive dysfunction from trying to hold huge problem spaces in my head for too long. It was like I ran out of room in my brain's hard drive and it began thrashing. Now that I am no longer burned out or depressed, I've also noticed that the dormant problem-solving pathways have reawakened. So luckily I don't have to relearn the technical skills from before. I've been doing handyman work and spend a lot of time daydreaming about what I'd like to accomplish on the computer, so when I sit down to it, it's easier to overcome starting friction. I'm focusing on having no lost days, and treating every checked off item on my todo list as a victory, rather than criticizing myself for lack of productivity.

mankins 6y ago

I learned this hack from Mr. Rogers. :)

sixdimensional 6y ago

Reminds me of the book “ Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World” by Admiral McRaven. Basic premise is just making your bed in the morning sets a psychological tone for the day.

btgeekboy 6y ago

I still wear a collared shirt and do my hair even though we're WFH. In addition to the above, it looks more professional when I'm on camera for work, which is also the only visual impression my team and managers have of me.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

xxpor 6y ago

>Just dress the same in the morning as you would if you would go into the office, and at the end of the day, take off the work clothes and dress as you would normally at home Tech bro problems: These are the exact same things for me

joshuahaglund 6y ago
I've used a work hat and/or work shoes as a reminder to myself and my roommates that I'm working. Not like a hard hat, just things I wouldn't normally wear, that I wear "at" work.