Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, and Mark Zuckerberg all have a single quirky habit in common. That is, they all wear the same outfit almost every day. Steve Jobs was famous for his black turtleneck paired with blue jeans and sneakers. President Obama wore either a grey or blue suit every day of his presidency (except, of course, for Tan Suit Gate). Mark Zuckerberg wears the same jeans and t-shirt combination every day.
This trend is prevalent among high achieving individuals. Here are a few of the most compelling arguments for adopting a personal uniform.
Decision Fatigue
If you’re doing entrepreneurship right, you make a lot of decisions every day. However, the quality of our decision-making begins to deteriorate after a long period of decision making. This phenomenon is known as Decision Fatigue, and it brings severe negative consequences.
For this reason, many high achievers choose to minimize the number of decisions they need to make regularly. This frees up their intellectual bandwidth to engage with truly important issues. So, Mark Zuckerberg, Barack Obama, and Steve Jobs wore the same clothes every day so they could eliminate that decision from their daily routines.
Confidence
Do you have a particular shirt or dress that fits so well, you get an instant confidence boost when you put it on? Conversely, is there an outfit that makes you feel frumpy and stays buried in the back of your closet? What if you filled your wardrobe with outfits that always made you feel confident and eliminated everything else? Identifying the work outfit that allows you to feel your best can take your confidence and productivity to the next level.
Economics
Embracing minimalism in your wardrobe can also help save your bank account. When you decide on a uniform, you can sometimes purchase clothing items in bulk at a discounted rate. Also, establishing a uniform can help reduce impulse spending because it allows you to identify things you don’t need quickly. When you wear the same shirt every day, it’s harder to talk yourself into “needing” a cute new shirt in a store window. So, if you tend to spend a lot of money on clothes for work, a uniform could be just what you need to reign in your expenditures.
High-performing professionals around the world have embraced the personal uniform to simplify their lives. This trend is even popular in the fashion industry. Many of the world’s top designers are known for wearing the same thing every day, even though they create beautiful designs for the rest of us. However, when all is said and done, you should always wear whatever makes you feel most confident and allows you to be most productive.
