Can your outfit boost your study motivation?  

About 8;15pm a few weeks ago. The campus library. Plaid brown skirt and blue-light glasses that I don’t really need to wear. Looking for a book that had been recommended from the creative writing group I'd just left. I found it quick and left even quicker. On my way out the librarian asked what I'd checked out. Just plain curiosity. I told him it was a book on writing fiction. “Yeah, I see that. You do look like a writer”. So, there it was. Little old me, affirmed writer, officially.  

In relaying this anecdote of external validation, I present the importance of dressing the part for one’s purpose. Perhaps, a lesson of ‘fake it until you make it’.  

Outside of writing for pleasure, I do frequent the library for academic study. In the least productive of these sessions, I find myself staring at a blinking cursor and unfulfilled wordcount whilst I faff about with my un-styled hair and wishing that I’d remembered to wear my lucky jewellery.  

Like many other students with a wavering focus, I look for subconscious excuses to avoid the task at hand. The default of such, is care for my appearance. Pure vanity, I know.  

So, my proposed solution to take care of a shy attention span, is to look the part. When I think of a dedicated student, I admit my mental image is quite old fashioned. Perhaps corduroy trousers and a long coat with, of course, the stereotype of spectacles. Thus, was born my study uniform.  

For others, this may look different of course- perhaps a cosy outfit is best for some students to eliminate the distraction of uncomfortable clothes. Think, your softest lounge pants and shoes that fit more like slippers.  

Recommending that you stick to the same outfit rotation each time you study would however be poor advice, though in my lowest bouts of motivation, playing ‘smarty pants’ dress up does help.  

In a slightly Pavlovian manner, an equally effective habit I’ve picked up is to wear my ‘writing ring’. It’s dainty and silver and comes with me to campus every day. It has a row of loose metal beads along the end band which I, as second nature, shift with my thumb between typing sentences. A small, probably unnoticeable fashion statement with a big impact on my productivity. 

So, to answer the question at hand: the right ‘study-wear’ can most certainly boost your motivation. Or, at the very least, remove one obstacle of distraction from your work.