Latest / Do You F*cking Mind? / What you wear influences your behaviour and mood - psychology of enclothed cognition

Transcript

What you wear influences your behaviour and mood - psychology of enclothed cognition · Do You F*cking Mind?

0:10
Speaker 1: Hello, beautiful beans, and welcome to the podcast episode of Today.
0:15
Speaker 1: I'm Alexis Fernandez and this is Do Your Fucking Mind.
0:18
Speaker 1: This is the podcast that teaches you how to improve
0:19
Speaker 1: your relationship with yourself and with your brain. But before
0:23
Speaker 1: we get into the episode of today, just a quick
0:25
Speaker 1: reminder to subscribe to my substack, which I'm loving. It's
0:29
Speaker 1: notes on theMIND dot substack dot com. This is for
0:32
Speaker 1: my written work. This is stuff that is similar and
0:35
Speaker 1: different to the podcast, the stuff that's on there that
0:38
Speaker 1: does not exist on the podcast. There's free and paid
0:41
Speaker 1: subscriptions available. And if you want meditations, challenges, mental fitness affirmations,
0:46
Speaker 1: then go check out my app, Hotel Mindset. Now let's
0:50
Speaker 1: get into the episode of today. So today we're talking
0:52
Speaker 1: about something called enclothed cognition, and by the end of today,
0:57
Speaker 1: you're going to realize and loan how what you wear
1:00
Speaker 1: can really influence your mind, your mood, and your output
1:04
Speaker 1: all kinds of output, your energy output, your intentional output.
1:09
Speaker 1: I'm going to cover it in detail. You're going to
1:11
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you examples of how the meaning
1:14
Speaker 1: behind what you wear can heavily influence how you approach things.
1:19
Speaker 1: In your day. So it's really really exciting, and it
1:22
Speaker 1: kind of is nice because it gives us a bit
1:24
Speaker 1: of a an answer as to why it is that
1:27
Speaker 1: when you have your hair done or you know, depending
1:31
Speaker 1: on the individual that you are, when you're wearing your
1:32
Speaker 1: favorite outfit or when you're wearing a really sharp suit
1:37
Speaker 1: in your favorite color, you behave slightly differently, or when
1:40
Speaker 1: you get your nails done, you move your hands differently,
1:43
Speaker 1: things like that. I'm going to explain kind of the
1:46
Speaker 1: psychological phenomenon behind this. So the actual study that was
1:51
Speaker 1: done on this enclosed cognition was by Adam and Glinsky,
1:56
Speaker 1: and this is published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,
2:00
Speaker 1: and the study describes the influence that clothes have on
2:04
Speaker 1: the wearer's psychological process. Okay, so in the study, their
2:08
Speaker 1: claim was that this in clothed cognition has to do
2:11
Speaker 1: with two independent factors happening at the same time. So
2:15
Speaker 1: it's the meaning of the clothes and the experience of
2:18
Speaker 1: wearing the clothes. So what symbolic meaning does that clothing
2:21
Speaker 1: have to the individual and what is the experience when
2:26
Speaker 1: they wear the clothes, So it's a combination. So in
2:30
Speaker 1: this study, they did this lab coat experiment, and a
2:33
Speaker 1: lab coat is often associated with being careful, with being
2:37
Speaker 1: attentive with intelligence, and they predicted that wearing a lab
2:42
Speaker 1: coat would increase performance versus not wearing a lab coat.
2:46
Speaker 1: And the symbolism around the lab coat in this study
2:49
Speaker 1: is obviously important. Knowing that it is a lab coat,
2:52
Speaker 1: you think scientist, someone who's really paying attention. You're in
2:55
Speaker 1: a lab. It's very specific things you've got to get done.
3:00
Speaker 1: And they found that people performed better on attention related
3:04
Speaker 1: tasks when wearing this lab coat, and interestingly like versus
3:08
Speaker 1: the control group that didn't wear a lolub coat. But interestingly,
3:12
Speaker 1: when they told these people to wear the coat, they
3:14
Speaker 1: described it to two separate groups as you were wearing
3:16
Speaker 1: a lab coat in a laboratory versus you were wearing
3:22
Speaker 1: like a lab coat from a laboratory, versus you were
3:24
Speaker 1: wearing a painter's coat. There was the same coat, but
3:26
Speaker 1: one was described as a painter's coat and the other
3:28
Speaker 1: one was described as a lab coat. Those that wore
3:31
Speaker 1: the quote lab coat performed better on these attention tasks
3:35
Speaker 1: versus those that wore the painter's coat, which performed the
3:38
Speaker 1: same as the control group on the attention tasks. So
3:41
Speaker 1: symbolism matters here. It's the importance that we as individuals
3:46
Speaker 1: put on the clothing that we are going to wear.
3:51
Speaker 1: So this is why I always recommend when you're trying
3:55
Speaker 1: to start exercising and you're someone that's never exised, this
3:59
Speaker 1: is what I always say, just put on your active
4:01
Speaker 1: way and just go for a walk around the block,
4:04
Speaker 1: or just walk out the door and walk straight back in.
4:05
Speaker 1: If you're someone that's like I cannot wrap my head
4:07
Speaker 1: around this becoming part of my every day, I always
4:10
Speaker 1: say start with the physical, the mental will follow. And
4:12
Speaker 1: in closed cognition is a really really good example of this.
4:15
Speaker 1: If you were to put on your workout clothes, whatever
4:19
Speaker 1: that may be, but clothes that you associate with exercising,
4:22
Speaker 1: and you just leave the house and then come back,
4:24
Speaker 1: you start to associate these are the clothes that I
4:27
Speaker 1: wear when I exercise, and just putting them on, you
4:29
Speaker 1: switch gears and you're able to do something that maybe
4:33
Speaker 1: you weren't in the mood to do twenty minutes earlier. Okay,
4:36
Speaker 1: So you want to also look at it as a
4:40
Speaker 1: form of being in control when you can wear clothes
4:44
Speaker 1: that help you get into the mindset of something that
4:46
Speaker 1: is taking control of something and maximizing what you can
4:50
Speaker 1: do with this tool. I always look at it as
4:53
Speaker 1: a tool. So I find that I get way more
4:57
Speaker 1: done in my day if I dress in a way
5:01
Speaker 1: that I love to dress. So if I'm at home,
5:02
Speaker 1: and I often work from home, I have my kids,
5:05
Speaker 1: they're not even ten months old. I have now my
5:09
Speaker 1: recording studio at home at least for the time being,
5:12
Speaker 1: So often I'm in active wear or in tracksuits at home.
5:16
Speaker 1: It's just the easiest option for me. But then I
5:20
Speaker 1: am a bit when it comes to work related to usks.
5:23
Speaker 1: I find myself to be more distractable. But if I
5:27
Speaker 1: then put on an outfit that I really love because
5:30
Speaker 1: I'm about to go maybe I'm going to guest on
5:32
Speaker 1: someone else's podcast. But I get dressed maybe two hours
5:35
Speaker 1: before I have to leave the house, and the kids
5:37
Speaker 1: have gone down for a nap, or Tyrone's here or
5:39
Speaker 1: someone's helping with the kids, and I have a moment
5:42
Speaker 1: to do some work. Just me being in this outfit
5:46
Speaker 1: knowing that I'm going to be guesting on a podcast
5:49
Speaker 1: or whatever, I feel more professional. I feel like i'm
5:52
Speaker 1: more on workwise, I've switched into that zone and I'm
5:56
Speaker 1: less restructible. I can get into the zone. It's the
5:58
Speaker 1: same as when I go to a library, I am
6:02
Speaker 1: getting way more done than if I'm at home, and
6:04
Speaker 1: that's if no one is trying to distract me at home.
6:07
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the same kind of control over your circumstances.
6:10
Speaker 1: Where I'm at home, I will just be more distractable myself. Okay,
6:14
Speaker 1: So this symbolism, we have to talk about association. So
6:19
Speaker 1: what are you associating your outfit with? So if you
6:22
Speaker 1: are someone that wants to be more switched on at work,
6:24
Speaker 1: or you want to be quote unquote taken more seriously,
6:27
Speaker 1: what do you associate your clothing with. It doesn't really
6:30
Speaker 1: matter what other people associated with, because it's what behavioral
6:33
Speaker 1: out What is it going to change in your behavior?
6:36
Speaker 1: So if I wear an item of clothing or a
6:39
Speaker 1: suit or something that I think makes me feel more powerful,
6:42
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if the other person associates a suit
6:46
Speaker 1: with power or not. It's because it's now changed my behavior.
6:50
Speaker 1: I carry myself differently, I speak more directly, I speak more.
6:54
Speaker 1: You know, I'm stronger, and therefore my behavior will be
6:59
Speaker 1: how I want it to be, so it's irrelevant what
7:01
Speaker 1: the other person thinks of what I'm wearing. That's the
7:03
Speaker 1: beauty of this in clothed cognition. It has to do
7:05
Speaker 1: with how it influences your own psychological processes, on your
7:09
Speaker 1: behavior and how you interact with tasks or with other people.
7:12
Speaker 1: So the symbolism has to matter to you. What is
7:15
Speaker 1: this symbolic meaning behind what you are wearing. So for example,
7:20
Speaker 1: if you have, like I said, the active wear the suit,
7:23
Speaker 1: but it could also be something that helps you relax
7:26
Speaker 1: as well. There could be a particular pajama that is
7:28
Speaker 1: the closest pajama that you have, or there could be
7:30
Speaker 1: an item of clothing that someone who is really close
7:33
Speaker 1: to you and makes you feel really warm and fuzzy
7:35
Speaker 1: has given you, and when you put that item of
7:37
Speaker 1: clothing on, you can instantly feel more loved and calm
7:41
Speaker 1: and relax. So there's many different ways that you can
7:44
Speaker 1: use this in clothed cognition. It's not just when you
7:46
Speaker 1: want to be on one hundred percent. You can use
7:48
Speaker 1: it for many things. You can have an outfit of cloth.
7:51
Speaker 1: My mum and my aunt to do this. They have
7:53
Speaker 1: and it's not phone cloth cognition. But they have literally
7:55
Speaker 1: a draw full of clothes that's the cleaning the house clothing.
7:58
Speaker 1: They have this particular draw in their wardrobe and it's
8:01
Speaker 1: just filled with clothes that they only wear to clean
8:03
Speaker 1: the house. And my auntie literally has like multiple pairs
8:06
Speaker 1: of jeans. I'm like, what sociopath wears jeans to clean
8:10
Speaker 1: the house? She's like, well, it's for what I bleach
8:12
Speaker 1: the shower. I'm like, imagine bleaching a shower in jeans.
8:14
Speaker 1: I think that's just like a boomer vibe. But anyway,
8:19
Speaker 1: love whatever it works for them. You have to ask yourself,
8:22
Speaker 1: how do I physically feel in it? Do I feel
8:23
Speaker 1: slatched and relaxed and lounging around? Do I feel more
8:26
Speaker 1: rigid and more upright? And therefore I'm more switched on?
8:30
Speaker 1: You know, if I'm gonna wear a suit, I'm not
8:32
Speaker 1: lounging around the house. It's because I've got places to
8:34
Speaker 1: fucking be right. If I'm gonna wear active wear and
8:37
Speaker 1: you know, running shoes and this and that, what am
8:39
Speaker 1: I going to be doing in this clothes? So it's
8:42
Speaker 1: a really good way of figuring out how can I
8:44
Speaker 1: make my wardrobe and my style really really really work
8:48
Speaker 1: for me. Another example of this if you're someone who's
8:50
Speaker 1: made maybe you're a podcaster, and I've actually considered this
8:54
Speaker 1: as well. Sometimes do you just have like look at
8:57
Speaker 1: Huberman who has just the black shirt every time? Would
9:00
Speaker 1: that help you get into the zone of podcasting more?
9:02
Speaker 1: And I've actually thought about this film, like, I wonder
9:04
Speaker 1: if I just had my staple, like a one staple
9:06
Speaker 1: or three staple outfits that I would wear, would I
9:09
Speaker 1: potentially psychologically slip into the zone when I'd sit down
9:11
Speaker 1: to record and film more? Maybe I would. I don't know.
9:14
Speaker 1: It's something that's maybe worth experimenting with. But ask yourself,
9:19
Speaker 1: what do these things make me feel? And should I
9:21
Speaker 1: be wearing it right now? If a tracksuit is the
9:23
Speaker 1: thing that is the ultimate mark of comfort for you,
9:27
Speaker 1: do you want to be wearing that when you're trying
9:29
Speaker 1: to be as focused and switched on. It sounds tempting
9:32
Speaker 1: because you're like, how good is it that I can
9:34
Speaker 1: work from home today? And because but is my output
9:37
Speaker 1: put going to be as good as I would like
9:38
Speaker 1: it to be? When I was writing my book, if
9:41
Speaker 1: I would try and write at home, I'd have okay, output,
9:44
Speaker 1: But if I'd get dressed and walk down the street
9:47
Speaker 1: and sit down, I would be fucking on and my
9:50
Speaker 1: output would I'm not exaggerate when I say probably three
9:52
Speaker 1: times more in the same amount of timeframe. Not only
9:55
Speaker 1: would I do more work, but it'd be better at work.
9:59
Speaker 1: And I would experiment with this again and again and again.
10:02
Speaker 1: It was because I would change what I was wearing.
10:04
Speaker 1: I would put something on that was more serious in
10:07
Speaker 1: my opinion, and I just felt like I was actually working.
10:11
Speaker 1: I was in the zone working. I'm not just like
10:12
Speaker 1: typing away relaxed on the couch. What for you symbolizes powerful?
10:17
Speaker 1: What color symbolized power? What different hairstyles mean different things
10:21
Speaker 1: for you? It all has to do with how you
10:24
Speaker 1: interpret it. It doesn't matter what other people think about it,
10:27
Speaker 1: because it's how it influences your own behavior. So don't
10:30
Speaker 1: get tangled up thinking, but what if this other person
10:32
Speaker 1: doesn't think that that looks that good? And it doesn't matter.
10:34
Speaker 1: That is completely irrelevant. This is all just a psychological
10:38
Speaker 1: game that we can play with ourselves. Now, this will
10:46
Speaker 1: influence how other people interact with you, but it's not
10:49
Speaker 1: because of what you're wearing. For the most part. Sometimes yeah, okay,
10:52
Speaker 1: there's going to be some influence. If you're wearing you know,
10:55
Speaker 1: you know, a lab coat, people are obviously going to
10:58
Speaker 1: think that you're working in a lab that kind of shit.
11:00
Speaker 1: But it's more so because of the little changes in
11:03
Speaker 1: your behavior. If you're weighing something that makes you feel
11:06
Speaker 1: super hot and super confident, you're gonna be on right
11:09
Speaker 1: and you're gonna be like, I'm fucking on fire today,
11:11
Speaker 1: I look fucking incredible. I'm oozing confidence I am. And
11:15
Speaker 1: so you're probably more lighthearted, you're more flirt you're a
11:17
Speaker 1: little bit more adventurous, You're more direct than you would
11:20
Speaker 1: be if you walked out being like I feel flat,
11:23
Speaker 1: I feel like I've got no energy, I feel just slouchy,
11:28
Speaker 1: and I feel this and I'm tired and whatever. You
11:31
Speaker 1: might love yourself just as much, but you're just like
11:33
Speaker 1: you're not on. You don't feel like you're just switched on,
11:35
Speaker 1: and people interact with you differently. Okay, So it will
11:38
Speaker 1: change how people interact with you, but more so because
11:41
Speaker 1: of how you feel and how it alters your behavior.
11:45
Speaker 1: So this is the ultimate form of self expression. How
11:48
Speaker 1: can I use self expression to help my energy output
11:53
Speaker 1: to get more in the zone of the different facets
11:56
Speaker 1: of my life. When I want to relax properly relax,
11:59
Speaker 1: I'm not going to get home, stay in my clothes
12:00
Speaker 1: and sit on the couch because part of me is
12:02
Speaker 1: like I'm not fully relaxed yet. I'm going to go
12:04
Speaker 1: to my wardrobe. Maybe I do, maybe I don't shower,
12:07
Speaker 1: but I'm going to get into my most comfortable outfit
12:09
Speaker 1: and then I sit on the couch and maybe I'm
12:11
Speaker 1: so relaxed that I choose not to grab my phone,
12:12
Speaker 1: and this is the time that I grab a book. Right.
12:15
Speaker 1: If I want to feel so fucking fit and healthy,
12:18
Speaker 1: I'm going to put on an outfit that to me
12:20
Speaker 1: symbolizes being active, okay or fucking the ultimate thing of health.
12:26
Speaker 1: If you, I don't need to continue one with the
12:29
Speaker 1: with the examples, you know what I'm talking about. So
12:31
Speaker 1: this is how can I use this as self expression? Now,
12:34
Speaker 1: remember when I did a podcast on the alter ego effect.
12:38
Speaker 1: There's a book called the alter ego Effect, and then
12:41
Speaker 1: I did my own episode about it, referencing the book,
12:44
Speaker 1: but then also giving you examples of how you could
12:46
Speaker 1: apply this alter ego effect into your life and why
12:49
Speaker 1: it can be so helpful in helping you be a
12:53
Speaker 1: person in a realm that you feel might be a
12:56
Speaker 1: bit too far from who you're used to being. Let's
12:58
Speaker 1: saying you're trying to change something about it, you were
13:00
Speaker 1: trying to do something new, or let's say you're normally
13:02
Speaker 1: quite a timid person, but this career really interests you,
13:06
Speaker 1: but it would require you being outgoing. This is where
13:08
Speaker 1: you kind of don this alter ego, and this is
13:12
Speaker 1: where in clothed cognition can really marry quite nicely with
13:15
Speaker 1: the alter ego. If you haven't listened to that episode
13:16
Speaker 1: or read the book, go check out my episode, and
13:18
Speaker 1: then of course go check out the book. But it
13:21
Speaker 1: is a really good one to keep in mind because
13:24
Speaker 1: it is a similar version of this. And if you're
13:27
Speaker 1: using this alter ego, and if you have been using it,
13:30
Speaker 1: how you dress is just going to give that extra
13:32
Speaker 1: little nudge to help you get there and get into
13:34
Speaker 1: that zone. If your alter ego that's maybe the more
13:37
Speaker 1: outgoing or the more focused or the more hard working
13:40
Speaker 1: version of yourself. So my suggestion for you is, choose
13:46
Speaker 1: one pocket of your life that you would like to
13:48
Speaker 1: make improvements with because you could do this across the board,
13:51
Speaker 1: but if it's someone that's like, no, no, no, no, no, I
13:53
Speaker 1: really want to make this work for me, but I've
13:55
Speaker 1: never tried this before. How can I actually do it?
13:58
Speaker 1: Start with one thing at a time. Then you can
14:00
Speaker 1: layer it on and do it in every way. But
14:03
Speaker 1: let's start with one pocket off your life that you
14:05
Speaker 1: would really want to improve in. So let's say I
14:08
Speaker 1: need to be more focused. I want to feel like
14:10
Speaker 1: I am when I'm working. I'm fucking working, And I'm
14:13
Speaker 1: going to do this with you guys. I'm trying this
14:14
Speaker 1: experiment too, where I'm going to do my hair, my makeup,
14:18
Speaker 1: and my outfit as if I was going to guest
14:20
Speaker 1: on someone else's podcast, even when I'm just working at home,
14:24
Speaker 1: and I'm going to see if it does influence my output.
14:27
Speaker 1: And if it doesn't, I go back to fucking whatever.
14:29
Speaker 1: But then if it does, it's a tool that I
14:32
Speaker 1: can use. Okay, So choose that pocket in your life.
14:36
Speaker 1: Maybe it's going to be I'm actually going to start
14:37
Speaker 1: putting on active whether I am able to do a
14:40
Speaker 1: full workout or not, whether I can't even run one
14:42
Speaker 1: hundred meters yet or not. But I'm getting into that
14:45
Speaker 1: zone of this is who I'm going to be. Now
14:49
Speaker 1: for the next week, I want to I want you
14:51
Speaker 1: to try and see if this makes a difference and
14:53
Speaker 1: if it works, and if it's a tool that you
14:56
Speaker 1: can use to give you the edge. So for the
14:58
Speaker 1: next week, I dearly longer than a week, but let's
15:01
Speaker 1: just do a week. I want you to every day,
15:05
Speaker 1: in the appropriate time use this and clothed cognition. So
15:10
Speaker 1: if you work from home, I don't care. You're going
15:13
Speaker 1: to if this is the zone that you want to change,
15:15
Speaker 1: you're going to dress the fucking part. You're going to
15:18
Speaker 1: look in the mirror and say, nobody is going to
15:20
Speaker 1: fucking cross my path and not realize they fucking crossed it, right,
15:24
Speaker 1: Or if you're gonna be the active way, you're gonna
15:26
Speaker 1: wear and not not just any active wear. You're gonna
15:28
Speaker 1: wear your favorite active wear, and you're gonna wear the
15:32
Speaker 1: sneak is the whole deal. You're gonna like, tie your
15:34
Speaker 1: hair back tightly, maybe your fucking aerobic's head, whatever the fuck,
15:38
Speaker 1: anything that's gonna make you feel like I'm ready to
15:40
Speaker 1: run a half marathon if it if I've never run one,
15:42
Speaker 1: hundred meters in my life, I look the parts. What
15:46
Speaker 1: if you're someone that's saying, you know, I feel like
15:48
Speaker 1: I'm such an outgoing person, but no one ever sees
15:50
Speaker 1: that in me because I feel like my clothing doesn't
15:53
Speaker 1: reflect my personality. What if you're just like, I want
15:56
Speaker 1: people to see me as that really fun, outgoing per
16:00
Speaker 1: So I'm going to start wearing louder, brighter clothes. I'm
16:03
Speaker 1: going to be way more adventurous with my wardrobe, and
16:06
Speaker 1: therefore I'm going to feel that when I go out,
16:08
Speaker 1: I'm like it brings out my own personality and therefore
16:12
Speaker 1: people start interacting with me as the adventurous version of myself.
16:15
Speaker 1: So that's another example. So do it for a week,
16:18
Speaker 1: put the time and effort into this appearance of yours,
16:22
Speaker 1: whichever facet you want it to be. And it could
16:24
Speaker 1: even be the relaxing one. You could be someone that
16:27
Speaker 1: is never giving yourself time to just have really cozy,
16:30
Speaker 1: relaxing clothes at home and really lean into relaxing and
16:33
Speaker 1: you never have downtime. It could be that. So you
16:36
Speaker 1: choose which one it is, But for me, it's going
16:37
Speaker 1: to be the work one. I'm going to dress the
16:40
Speaker 1: fucking part and see if it makes a difference in
16:43
Speaker 1: my cognitive output work wise. So, for example, if you
16:48
Speaker 1: have this like work outfit, it's like the CEO fucking
16:52
Speaker 1: outfit on you know, one day you could just be
16:54
Speaker 1: wearing whatever the fuck clothing you want to wear. On
16:57
Speaker 1: day two, you could be wearing this like epic Blaze
17:00
Speaker 1: tailored pants or great dress that you love, your favorite
17:04
Speaker 1: fucking shoes, jewelry. You've done your hair exactly how you
17:07
Speaker 1: want it, and externally not much has changed. It's just
17:11
Speaker 1: really what you're wearing that's not really that deep. But
17:13
Speaker 1: you're more likely to sit up straighter, maybe have your
17:16
Speaker 1: desk more organized because you're feeling on, so you want
17:19
Speaker 1: everything around you to be on. And because you're more organized,
17:22
Speaker 1: you're more focused on what your work is. You're quicker
17:25
Speaker 1: to reply to things, You're quicker to be able to
17:27
Speaker 1: drop into that zone and maybe do your time blocking.
17:30
Speaker 1: You don't want to procrastinate because you feel like you're
17:32
Speaker 1: so professional. You take yourself more seriously and therefore your
17:35
Speaker 1: work more seriously. You speak more confidently, you're more concise
17:39
Speaker 1: in your emails. You stop putting so many fucking exclamation
17:41
Speaker 1: marks in your emails. If you're a woman and you
17:44
Speaker 1: start receiving all these tiny cues being like, I am
17:49
Speaker 1: a fucking professional, thank you very much. I am. I'm
17:52
Speaker 1: amazing at what I do. Thank you. I'm in the zone. Yes,
17:56
Speaker 1: And then that just like goes and goes and go,
17:58
Speaker 1: and then the next day you're like, there's no other option.
18:00
Speaker 1: I want to dress the part. I want to dress
18:03
Speaker 1: this way. The other one, you know, with the gym example,
18:07
Speaker 1: you're gonna feel like, well, I already am wearing this
18:10
Speaker 1: as I go out. I could just try and jog.
18:14
Speaker 1: I'm wearing the appropriate stuff to go for the job.
18:16
Speaker 1: Let's see how long I can jog for. Okay, it's
18:18
Speaker 1: longer than you thought. Amazing. Well tomorrow, let's just see
18:20
Speaker 1: how that goes. Again, I'm feeling really good. I probably
18:22
Speaker 1: not want to stretch before I go out for the job.
18:24
Speaker 1: And now that I have started stretching, now I'm fucking
18:26
Speaker 1: in the zone. Now I'm ready to go for that
18:28
Speaker 1: run and now and then you jat up and you
18:30
Speaker 1: go okay. Another one is you could have a particular
18:36
Speaker 1: uniform quote unquote for a task that you want to do.
18:39
Speaker 1: So let's say you are a writer. Let's say you've
18:42
Speaker 1: got a sub stack like e or you write books,
18:45
Speaker 1: whatever it is. So you decide that you have your
18:49
Speaker 1: writing outfit, and every time you sit down to write,
18:52
Speaker 1: and you want to have undistracted, uninterrupted writing time, you're
18:56
Speaker 1: gonna wear this particular outfit. So it doesn't have to
18:58
Speaker 1: be this crazy look like a boss outfit, no, but
19:02
Speaker 1: it's an outfit that you associate with writing. Okay, So
19:05
Speaker 1: it could be a particular sweater, it could be Genes.
19:09
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to sit down and write in Jenes,
19:11
Speaker 1: but maybe you do. It could be an outfit that
19:14
Speaker 1: you associate with that mental state. And so for the
19:18
Speaker 1: next week, you pick this outfit and you could have
19:21
Speaker 1: two or three versions off that same outfit, and then
19:23
Speaker 1: you sit and write in that outfit, and every time
19:26
Speaker 1: you put that outfit on, you begin to associate outfit
19:28
Speaker 1: with writing. Outfit, writing outfit with writing. And then it
19:30
Speaker 1: gets to a point where just by putting that outfit on,
19:33
Speaker 1: it's like conditioned. You have conditioned yourself to think, now
19:37
Speaker 1: I need to write. Now I'm in the zone with writing.
19:39
Speaker 1: So you can use it in clothes cognition for that
19:41
Speaker 1: in that realm as well, you create an association where
19:45
Speaker 1: just by donning that piece that garment, you are already
19:49
Speaker 1: slightly more psychologically tuned into the task that you're going
19:52
Speaker 1: to do. If you want to be like my mum
19:54
Speaker 1: and my auntie put on that particular cleaning the house outfit,
19:58
Speaker 1: I'm already in this cleaning outfit. Now I'm in the
20:00
Speaker 1: fucking zone for the next hour, and I'm scrubbing this
20:02
Speaker 1: place down from top to bottom in lightning speed record time,
20:08
Speaker 1: and before you know what, the place is spotless, and
20:11
Speaker 1: thank you very much to my bleaching Jeanes. Okay, then
20:16
Speaker 1: of course there's the studying outfit, or if you think, okay,
20:20
Speaker 1: I'm going to because you know how I talk about
20:22
Speaker 1: environment really influences how you study. If you're going to
20:25
Speaker 1: be at home on the couch, this and that with
20:26
Speaker 1: all these distractions, versus if you rock up to the library,
20:29
Speaker 1: you're gonna study way better at the library, not just
20:31
Speaker 1: because you've got less distractions than your home, but also
20:35
Speaker 1: it's the environment that you're in. You have to create
20:38
Speaker 1: the environment to influence your output. If you see other
20:41
Speaker 1: people studying around you, you're more likely to just buy association,
20:45
Speaker 1: just study to do your work. If everyone's being quiet,
20:48
Speaker 1: you're also going to be quiet. If you're looking at
20:50
Speaker 1: people being in the zone, it's easy for you to
20:52
Speaker 1: drop in that zone. Okay, you're not gonna go and
20:54
Speaker 1: try and study at a nightclub, are you, because you're
20:57
Speaker 1: gonna want to party. So you could do the same
20:59
Speaker 1: for a study outfit. And then another thing that you
21:03
Speaker 1: could do, and this is to take it kind of
21:05
Speaker 1: to the next level. And it's my final little example
21:08
Speaker 1: of you know, a little tool that you could do
21:10
Speaker 1: is you could do something called the future self experiment.
21:14
Speaker 1: And this is very tied into that alter ego ID.
21:17
Speaker 1: So imagine what it is exactly that you want to
21:19
Speaker 1: be in the near future or who you want to
21:22
Speaker 1: be right now. But obviously it's not happening today, so
21:24
Speaker 1: it's going to happen hopefully in the near future, if
21:26
Speaker 1: not in the not so distant future. And let's say
21:30
Speaker 1: it's I want to be, you know, whatever the fucking
21:35
Speaker 1: job is, a full time whatever I want to be,
21:38
Speaker 1: whether it's a writer, whether it's a vet, whether it's
21:42
Speaker 1: a I don't know, fill in the blanks, or it
21:44
Speaker 1: doesn't even have to be career wise, But who do
21:46
Speaker 1: you see yourself being in the next six months. Let's
21:49
Speaker 1: say you're someone that's like, you know what, I am
21:51
Speaker 1: sick of living in tracksuits every day of my life.
21:54
Speaker 1: I mean, love that for you if you do, and
21:57
Speaker 1: if you enjoy it. But some people are like, I've
21:59
Speaker 1: actually just want to put a bit more effort into
22:01
Speaker 1: my appearance. I like when I wear an outfit that
22:03
Speaker 1: I love. I love how I feel when I look
22:05
Speaker 1: in the mirror and say, oh my god, I fucking
22:07
Speaker 1: rocking this outfit. Why can't I just do that for myself?
22:10
Speaker 1: Why do I only leave those moments for when I'm
22:12
Speaker 1: going to see other people? What if I imagined that
22:15
Speaker 1: myself in six months time was someone that wore clothes
22:18
Speaker 1: that they loved and used up the nice clothes for
22:21
Speaker 1: themselves as well, not just for other people. Okay, so
22:24
Speaker 1: then what would that person then? How would they carry themselves,
22:27
Speaker 1: how would they interact with the outside world? How organized
22:30
Speaker 1: would they be? Because for me, if I want to
22:32
Speaker 1: be super organized, I can tell you right now, it's
22:34
Speaker 1: not going to be by staying on my pajamas all day.
22:36
Speaker 1: And I can speak from experience because I've done that
22:38
Speaker 1: thousands of times, literally thousands of times because I work
22:42
Speaker 1: from home and it never pays off. Ever. I feel
22:46
Speaker 1: flat as a fucking tack every time I do that.
22:49
Speaker 1: So if I want to be super organized, the best
22:51
Speaker 1: thing I can do, and if the twins allow me to,
22:54
Speaker 1: if they're not up and raging, is to be dressed.
22:56
Speaker 1: Before I even get the twins up, change them and
22:59
Speaker 1: give them their bottle. If I start my day dressed,
23:02
Speaker 1: it changes how I approach the whole morning. Yesterday morning,
23:06
Speaker 1: you should have seen me. I've never been more in
23:08
Speaker 1: the zone in my life, and that's that. I work
23:09
Speaker 1: up at three am, guys, because I had to watch
23:12
Speaker 1: Argentina play MESSI scored two goals. Everything was great, So
23:16
Speaker 1: I woke up at three am. Then I decided to
23:18
Speaker 1: continue sleeping on the couch because I didn't want to
23:19
Speaker 1: wake Tyrone up. Then I was up at seven. The
23:22
Speaker 1: boys literally woke up at seven, which was amazing. They
23:25
Speaker 1: normally woke up at five thirty. So before I even
23:27
Speaker 1: got them changed, I changed myself. Changed myself, washed my face,
23:30
Speaker 1: pulled my hair back. I was in active way and
23:32
Speaker 1: then bang, bang bang, I'm in the zone. I got
23:34
Speaker 1: the kids up. Tyrone had to go to work early,
23:36
Speaker 1: so I took a bit bat, I got the kids up,
23:38
Speaker 1: changed one, put it into the playpen, and changed the
23:39
Speaker 1: other pen, fed them both. Then I was there playing.
23:42
Speaker 1: I'm doing a workout on the match. Then I finished
23:44
Speaker 1: my workout, play with them for a little bit. Then
23:45
Speaker 1: I make their breakfast. Then while they're eating their breakfast,
23:47
Speaker 1: I'm half feeding them, half prepping all these meals. I've
23:50
Speaker 1: never been so fucking focused. I did my duo lingo.
23:53
Speaker 1: I did it all by the time I went down
23:55
Speaker 1: for their first nap at nine thirty, and I was like,
23:57
Speaker 1: who am I? And yes, I would like to meet
24:01
Speaker 1: this person every single morning for the rest of my life.
24:03
Speaker 1: So it was because I was changing how I approached
24:07
Speaker 1: the first part of my day, and then it kind
24:09
Speaker 1: of cascaded for me. Now there's going to be days
24:11
Speaker 1: where I do that and shit gets in the way
24:14
Speaker 1: and I don't have it nowhere near as a productive morning.
24:16
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is the times that I'm in
24:18
Speaker 1: my pajamas, I lounge the fuck around and I drag
24:22
Speaker 1: my fad and I beander and I'm like, tired pajamas
24:25
Speaker 1: equals sleepy to me. So that's the association. So I
24:28
Speaker 1: want you to think of your future self and think,
24:31
Speaker 1: what are tiny tweaks that I could do with enclosed cognition.
24:34
Speaker 1: Because I've got many episodes that talk about other behavioral
24:37
Speaker 1: changes you can make. Literally, that is my entire podcast
24:39
Speaker 1: on you know, changing yourself for the better. But what
24:43
Speaker 1: can I do clothing wise that is going to help
24:46
Speaker 1: me show up as my future self? What would my
24:48
Speaker 1: future self be wearing? What would if I think about
24:51
Speaker 1: the Alexis in six months? How organized this shit? Because
24:53
Speaker 1: that's that's been my goal this year, organization. So what
24:56
Speaker 1: does organize look like? I'm going to have my outfit
24:58
Speaker 1: out every night, So I'm going to start doing that
25:00
Speaker 1: this week. Even if it's active, it doesn't matter. I'm
25:02
Speaker 1: gonna have that clothes ready to go. Wake up in
25:04
Speaker 1: the morning. First thing I do is get dressed. First
25:06
Speaker 1: thing I do. Then, how will that influence my actions
25:10
Speaker 1: for the rest of the day. Okay, it might be
25:13
Speaker 1: I want to start fully putting in the effort into
25:16
Speaker 1: my appearance more. Maybe I want to wear much nicer
25:19
Speaker 1: outfits start the day. Even if I don't, I'm going
25:21
Speaker 1: to do that experiment. Now. I'm going to do the
25:23
Speaker 1: living as your future self dressing as your future self
25:26
Speaker 1: experiment for the next week. Okay, So if you don't
25:29
Speaker 1: want to do the active way one or the work
25:31
Speaker 1: one or the whatever, do the future self experiment. So
25:34
Speaker 1: and this is not about buying designer clothes or you
25:37
Speaker 1: don't have to buy anything. Just within your wardrobe, the
25:39
Speaker 1: clothes that makes you feel the best, the clothes that
25:41
Speaker 1: you feel oh my god, no, no, no, but I'd
25:43
Speaker 1: only wear that if I was going out to meet
25:45
Speaker 1: someone for lunch or whatever. Put it on. Put it
25:47
Speaker 1: on and see how it makes you feel. Do you
25:50
Speaker 1: carry yourself differently when you get your nails done? Does
25:54
Speaker 1: it make you carry yourself differently? And I'm waving my
25:56
Speaker 1: hand in front of the camera and I've got two
25:58
Speaker 1: nails missing, three nails missing. How good? When I get
26:03
Speaker 1: my hair done, I literally walk differently. I had my
26:05
Speaker 1: hair blow dry yesterday and I feel fabulous. And I
26:07
Speaker 1: got a big chop. I needed a big chop. I
26:09
Speaker 1: looked like I was joining a cult. That's how long
26:12
Speaker 1: my hair was. I was on the verge of joining
26:13
Speaker 1: a cult. And now I look like a classy lady
26:16
Speaker 1: from the nineties. So thank you to my hairdresser for that.
26:19
Speaker 1: But this is what I talk about within cloth cognition.
26:21
Speaker 1: It's minor things. Does everyone else think that I look
26:24
Speaker 1: like I was joining a cult? Probably not, But in
26:25
Speaker 1: my head, I'm like, oh, my hair's rity. This is
26:26
Speaker 1: pissing me off. I'm just going to tie up in
26:28
Speaker 1: a big knot when I got my hair chopped, and
26:30
Speaker 1: I'm like, I feel fucking fabulous. I'm carrying my hair differently,
26:33
Speaker 1: I'm flicking my hair around. I feel like I need
26:35
Speaker 1: to be ready to go out, so of course I
26:37
Speaker 1: feel more in the zone. So it sounds superficial, but
26:40
Speaker 1: sometimes it's easier to change the physical before you change
26:44
Speaker 1: the mental. That's why I always say, sometimes it's easier
26:47
Speaker 1: to discipline the body and then the mind will follow.
26:50
Speaker 1: So if you want to feel disciplined in the mind,
26:53
Speaker 1: maybe choose one physical task to do every day and
26:55
Speaker 1: teach yourself disciplined in that way, and then it becomes
26:58
Speaker 1: easier to discipline your mind. When it comes to thought
27:00
Speaker 1: patterns and beliefs and behaviors, physical and psychological go hand
27:06
Speaker 1: in hand, So as long as it influences you in
27:08
Speaker 1: a positive way, then it is worth giving it a go.
27:12
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if you think oh well, this person
27:14
Speaker 1: doesn't think that brand matters. Well, it's not about that.
27:16
Speaker 1: It's not about spending all this fucking money, and it's
27:19
Speaker 1: not about saying, oh well, that's so superficial. It makes
27:21
Speaker 1: a difference. There's literally data on it, So I think,
27:25
Speaker 1: give it a go, see if it makes a difference.
27:28
Speaker 1: And if it doesn't, awesome. It's a tool that you
27:31
Speaker 1: tried didn't fucking work, Alexis, thanks so much. That didn't
27:34
Speaker 1: work for me. Great, But if it works, now you've
27:37
Speaker 1: got a fucking perfect excuse to be like, now I
27:39
Speaker 1: have no excuse but to have the wardrobe that I
27:42
Speaker 1: want to have, And then you start to like curate
27:44
Speaker 1: your wardrobe without having to go crazy shopping, but being like,
27:48
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be really intentional now with the clothing that
27:51
Speaker 1: I buy. Okay, I'm gonna wear buy clothing, not just like,
27:54
Speaker 1: oh yeah that's cheap, maybe it's whatever, I'll buy it. No,
27:57
Speaker 1: every time I go and buy a piece of clothing,
27:59
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get less. But it's going to be super
28:00
Speaker 1: intentional because when I wear that, what would it mean
28:03
Speaker 1: for me? Is it my relaxing self, is it my
28:05
Speaker 1: driven self? Is it my writer's outfit. Is it this outfit?
28:08
Speaker 1: And then you have curated your wardrobe to be super
28:11
Speaker 1: organized and super intentional with this enclosed cognition. So for
28:15
Speaker 1: the next week, I'm doing it too. I want you
28:19
Speaker 1: to dress the part of whatever part you want to be.
28:21
Speaker 1: Pick the thing you want to change in your life.
28:23
Speaker 1: Start with one. If you already send me doing this.
28:25
Speaker 1: Let's say you already do the active working and you're like, hey,
28:27
Speaker 1: that's so true. That works for me. Every time I
28:29
Speaker 1: put on my active where whether I'm in the mood
28:31
Speaker 1: or not, I suddenly become just way more in the
28:33
Speaker 1: mood to do it, and therefore I exercise. So if
28:36
Speaker 1: you're already doing it, you can add a second one on.
28:38
Speaker 1: But if you're not doing it yet, pick one, and
28:40
Speaker 1: for the next seven days, including weekends, you are going
28:43
Speaker 1: to dress the part. Like, for example, when I go
28:46
Speaker 1: to the markets on a Saturday morning, there's like some
28:49
Speaker 1: really fucking cool mums there who wear such cool like
28:53
Speaker 1: trousers and a singleer and they just looks. I'm like, oh,
28:57
Speaker 1: love that. But in my head, I'm like, oh no,
29:00
Speaker 1: only I just wear tracksuits to the markets. Why don't
29:02
Speaker 1: I be that cool French looking lady and just rock
29:07
Speaker 1: cool trousers to the markets. Do you know how I
29:10
Speaker 1: would love myself fucking sick if I wore trousers to
29:12
Speaker 1: the markets. I'm gonna do this Saturday. I'm going to
29:14
Speaker 1: wear trousers to the markets. Okay, so it sounds outrageous,
29:18
Speaker 1: but it's how much more will I enjoy myself and
29:21
Speaker 1: how I carry myself when I wear this certain thing
29:25
Speaker 1: and go out into the world. Will I interact differently?
29:27
Speaker 1: Will I be more lighthearted? Will I be more fun?
29:29
Speaker 1: Will I be more adventurous? Or will I be stronger,
29:31
Speaker 1: more assertive, more focused? What is it that you want?
29:34
Speaker 1: Identify what you want? Identify what your future self would
29:37
Speaker 1: be doing and what they would be wearing when they're
29:39
Speaker 1: doing that thing. And do it now and see how
29:43
Speaker 1: it influences your mind. And comment on this and tell
29:45
Speaker 1: me if you've experienced this in the past. Maybe some
29:48
Speaker 1: of you guys already do it and say, Lex it's
29:49
Speaker 1: been doing this for years and it fucking changed my life.
29:52
Speaker 1: So if that's the case, share it in the comments.
29:54
Speaker 1: If you listen to this on Spotify, there's comments there,
29:58
Speaker 1: so share it in the comments. And yeah, I really
30:00
Speaker 1: want to know how you use and closed cognition to
30:03
Speaker 1: influence your behavior, your output, or your focus levels or
30:07
Speaker 1: how you relax or how you wind down or whatever
30:10
Speaker 1: it is. Okay, cool bens. That is the episode for today.
30:14
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning in and listening. Next
30:19
Speaker 1: Friday I will have a head noise episode. So if
30:22
Speaker 1: you would like to send in some questions, I mean
30:25
Speaker 1: I already have heaps to answer, but we always love
30:27
Speaker 1: receiving questions. You can email info at dwifmpod dot com
30:31
Speaker 1: or send your voice note on the website which is
30:34
Speaker 1: www dot dewifmpod dot com. That is all for today.
30:37
Speaker 1: As always, remember but can't yourself, We can't your brain.
30:40
Speaker 1: Don't taketu from anyone, and especially don't take shit from
30:42
Speaker 1: yourself dot com