Working in Your Pajamas

One comment that is often heard about working from home is that you can work in your pajamas. It's always mentioned in sort of a joking way, but is it really OK to work in your pj's?

Depending on your style and temperament, it may be fine to spend your day working in your pj's and your nights sleeping in them. The vision of a disheveled person sitting at the PC typing away fervently is comical, but some people do it and seem very productive. The truth is that it probably isn't realistic to expect to be this relaxed and accomplish all that often. People seem to naturally feel more productive when they are dressed and have brushed their teeth than when they look, even to themselves, as if they just tumbled out of bed or are just getting ready to tumble back in.

The common philosophy is that since you are hopefully treating your work at home job just as you would a work away from home job, that you will get out of bed and get ready to "go to work". That's not to say that you need to put on a business suit. It simply means that most people work better following the routine of getting cleaned up, dressed and setting down at the desk with their daily schedule of tasks on their mind. By doing so, the mind is sort of tricked into work mode rather than relax mode, and consequently, most people tend to get more done.

So, in short, it's probably not a great idea to expect to work in your pajamas. You wouldn't go to an outside office in your pj's, so why would you go to your home office dressed in your skivvies?  Unless you belong to a minority of people who are able to work in the most casual of attire, it's best to at least comb your hair, brush your teeth and don jeans and a t-shirt.

Posted:Friday, September 07, 2007