The Uniform Effect

A couple of years ago, I went to a bachelor party in Alaska. The location could not have been more epic: our friend Luke’s cabin on Chandalar Lake in the Brooks Range, which you can only get to by small plane (Luke flew us in).

Certainly, the location alone would have been enough to make everyone feel like they were at a true Alaskan bachelor party, but someone had a brilliant idea that really enhanced that feeling: uniforms.

They bought out the supply of red flannel shirts at the Fairbanks Good Will, ripped the sleeves off all of them, and gave each of us one to wear for the weekend. It was exceedingly ridiculous, but I swear, when you put on that sleeveless red flannel, you instantly felt more at home in the remote Alaskan wilderness, and all the behaviors that followed felt more natural.

Now, my purpose here is decidedly not to encourage you to put on your party pants and act accordingly. (I am sober, after all.) No, no. My purpose here is to use this principle to help you in becoming better.

And just as our bachelor party uniforms helped us get into character for a weekend in Alaska, you can use uniforms in your life to help you get into character when you’re trying to do things like exercise or work from home.

The Uniform Effect

The uniform effect is the principle that your clothing sends your brain a signal about who you are and how to behave. Your “uniform” is whatever outfit is appropriate for the particular task you’re about to engage in.

• When you put on work-out clothes, your brain understands that it’s time to exercise.
• When you get dressed up to go out on the town (remember when people did that?), your brain understands that it’s time to be social. (Note: this could help you get in the mood for Zoom parties.)
• When you put on your pajamas (and in my case, mouth tape), your brain understands that it’s time for bed.

Speaking of pajamas, many of us are now working from home. And many people relish the idea that they can stay in their pajamas while they “go to work” in their home office. But this might be a mistake. Getting dressed for work signals to your brain that it’s now time to work. Staying in your pajamas signals that it’s time to relax.

So if you’re struggling to feel motivated and be productive in your home office, try putting on the kind of outfit you might wear to go into the office. If your calendar says it’s Wednesday, but your clothes say it’s Saturday, your mind might struggle to get into work mode. Dress the part, and the role of “person at work” will be easier to play.

Beating Procrastination

The uniform effect can also be used to help you overcome procrastination. Since the most powerful strategy for beating procrastination is getting started, putting on your uniform is a great way to start. It’s an easy action to take that gets you going in the right direction, and it’s a way to signal to your brain that you’re about to do a task that aligns with the outfit you’ve just donned.

For example, going for a run might feel too hard, but putting on your running clothes is easy. Start with that. Go to the door and lace up your shoes. Now that you’ve taken a couple of steps toward going for a run, and now that your uniform is on, actually going outside and running will feel like the natural next step.

Improved Identity

A uniform also sends your brain a signal about who you are, so it can be used to reinforce a chosen identity.

Some days, I don’t feel like writing. Moreover, I don’t even feel like a writer. So what do I do? I put on my writing uniform: a navy blue blazer.

Now that guy looks like a writer.

I know it’s completely ridiculous, but wearing a blazer makes me feel more like a professional writer, and it makes it much easier to sit down and start typing. I call it my writing jacket.

The Science of the Uniform Effect

I was inspired to adopt the writing jacket by Todd Herman’s book, The Alter Ego Effect. In this great book, Herman describes some research on resiliency in kids that revealed the power of uniforms:

“The study split kids into three groups. The researchers put a toy in a locked glass box and gave the kids a ring of keys. The catch? No key worked. The researchers wanted to see how to improve the children’s executive functioning skills and were interested in seeing how long they would try to unlock the box and what they would try. To help the kids, the researchers gave them what they called strategies. One strategy was to pretend to be Batman. The kids could even wear a cape! Dora the Explorer was a choice, too. Researchers found that the kids who worked the longest were the ones who impersonated Batman or Dora, followed by children who just pretended, and, finally, the kids who remained in the first-person perspective. The kids impersonating Batman or Dora were flexible thinkers, they tried the most keys, and they were calmer. One four-year-old even said, ‘Batman never gets frustrated.’”¹

In short, pretending to be the kind of person who is resilient makes you more resilient, and wearing the uniform of that person makes you even more resilient.

Harvard Psychology Professor Ellen Langer did another interesting experiment on the power of adopting an alter ego and wearing the corresponding uniform:

“All participants were given a vision test. One group of participants were then encouraged to role-play ‘air force pilots.’ They dressed the part and, in uniform, sat in a flight simulator. They were asked to read the letters on the wing of a nearby plane, which were actually part of an eye chart. Those participants who adopted the ‘pilot’ mindset, primed to have excellent vision, showed improved vision over those who were simply asked to read an eye chart from the same distance.”²

Studies like these hint that we are not fully tapping into our abilities on a day-to-day basis. And they suggest that something as simple as a change in mindset – and a change of clothes – could help us unleash more of our incredible human potential.

But this doesn’t have to be some dramatic, over-the-top uniform to be effective. Wearing something as small as a step-tracker causes people to take more steps.³ Surely this is, in part, because of the power of effort-tracking, but I think the uniform effect is also at work here. Wearing the step-tracker sends a signal to your brain that you intend to take more steps today. Hearing that signal, your brain abides.

Using Uniforms for Better Habits

A new habit will become ingrained more quickly if it is associated with a consistent ritual or routine. This can mean, for instance, meditating in the same place at the same time every day so that your brain comes to associate that time and place with the new behavior.

The uniform effect can be used here as well. Putting on a particular outfit prior to engaging in your new habit adds depth to the routine, strengthening it.

Just as a well-designed environment sends you signals about who you are and what to do, the uniform you wear does as well. So if you’re serious about implementing any kind of behavioral change, you’d be wise to do both.

William James famously said, “If you want a quality, act as if you already have it.”⁴

To that, I will add: If you want to be a particular kind of person, dress the part.

¹ Herman, Todd. The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life. Harper Business, 2019.

² Langer, Ellen. Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. Ballantine Books, 2009.

³ Picheta, Rob. “Using a fitness tracker could get you to walk an extra mile a day.” CNN. December 22, 2020.

⁴ Wiseman, Richard. The As If Principle: The Radically New Approach to Changing Your Life. Simon & Schuster, 2014.