Prior to having children I worked in a downtown office. It was fun to get dressed for work. I enjoyed coordinating my outfits and shoes. I loved finding fun accessories. In fact, I enjoyed this so much that one time my husband actually created a pie graph showing the amount of money I spent at one particular clothing store. Yes, he was trying to give me a hint. But don’t get me wrong, he enjoyed seeing me dress up.
Fast forward a few years and I became a stay-at-home mom to two small children and then eventually we had our third. So at one time I had three children under the age of five. Those were definitely my frumpy days. Gone were the high heels and skirts and in were the t-shirts and sweatpants.
Thankfully I outgrew that mode of dress and as my children got older and I had my bearings about myself, I was able to dress nicely again. Now here is where it gets tricky. When you work at home and you don’t necessarily have anywhere to go, it is easy to fall into the trap of not getting dressed.
I know that some who work from home will argue that they do their best work in their pajamas. Well I can’t judge them but I can say that for me and probably for most people, that is not the case.
How many of us who work from home, especially those of us who don’t deal with people in person, think much about what we are wearing. Who cares, right? It’s just the spouse or the children who will see us. But what I have done is envisioned myself sitting across the table from my editor in person, rather than across the miles through the internet. How would I want to present myself?
I really do encourage those who work at home to make a concerted effort to not only get dressed but take some steps before that…such as take a shower. Can you believe that I would even have to mention that? For some of you reading this, you are probably smirking because you can relate.
But really, take your job at home as seriously as you would if you worked outside of it. Get up, take a shower, get dressed, shave, comb your hair, brush your teeth, put on some makeup…this is really how you first prepare for work. It shouldn’t be any different because you work at home.
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