There’s this running joke in tech that everyone’s uniform is basically the same: Patagonia vest, jeans, sneakers. Walk into any office in Silicon Valley or Seattle and you’ll see exactly what I mean. The dress code is so casual it almost doesn’t exist.
But not everyone buys into that philosophy. Anchal Mirza, a 36-year-old senior manager at Google working in strategy and operations for data center optimization, has discovered something counterintuitive. She actually gets more done when she’s dressed up, even when that office happens to be her home.
The irony is thick here. When the pandemic hit and everyone moved to remote work, Mirza made a deliberate choice. Instead of embracing the “no pants below the camera line” lifestyle, she got fully dressed. Every day.
The Psychology of Getting Dressed
Most people assumed the remote work era would be the great casual revolution. No commute, no coworkers seeing you, no reason to pretend anymore. And yet some people found the opposite to be true.
Mirza noticed something shift in herself when she stayed in her work clothes. It wasn’t just vanity or habit. There was something about appearing put-together on camera that changed her entire presence during meetings. She felt more authoritative. More present. More like she had a right to take up space in digital conversations.
“When I look the part, I feel more productive, motivated, and overall, successful,” she explains. It sounds simple, almost obvious when you hear it out loud. But there’s actual psychology behind it.
The phenomenon has a name in academic circles. It’s called “enclothed cognition,” and it’s the idea that what you wear literally influences how you think and perform. Your brain isn’t just processing the physical sensation of fabric on your skin. It’s absorbing the symbolic meaning of what you’re wearing, and that shapes your behavior.
Building a System That Works
What’s interesting about Mirza’s approach is that she’s not going full business formal. She’s not wearing blazers and heels to sit at her kitchen table. Instead, she’s found a middle ground that works for her and her industry.
Her strategy is surprisingly practical. She maintains what she calls two “uniforms.” Either nice jeans with a polished top or sweater, or professional slacks with a more casual shirt. Everything in her closet is neutral. The whole wardrobe is designed to work together, which means minimal decision-making in the morning.
This is actually smart from a productivity standpoint. Steve Jobs did something similar with his black turtleneck uniform. Mark Zuckerberg with his grey t-shirts. When you remove the daily decision of “what should I wear,” you free up mental energy for actual work. That’s not overthinking it. That’s understanding how your brain works.
Mirza also layers in small touches that boost her confidence without being excessive. Basic jewelry. Makeup when she’s on camera. The kinds of things that take five minutes but signal to her brain that the workday has begun.
The Confidence Factor in Tech
There’s something worth paying attention to here that goes beyond productivity hacks. Mirza is a woman working in technology spaces that are predominantly male. In that context, the extra boost of confidence that comes from looking polished isn’t trivial. It’s real.
It’s Pavlovian, she admits. Getting dressed and putting on makeup signals to her brain that it’s time to work. That it’s time to get everything on her to-do list done. And crucially, that she has the authority and presence to do it effectively.
That matters more than people want to admit. Especially for women in business environments where they’re already fighting against a thousand different assumptions and biases. If dressing up helps her command the digital room and assert her thoughts with more confidence, that’s not superficial. That’s strategy.
Is This Actually About the Clothes?
Here’s where it gets philosophical. Is Mirza actually more productive because of what she’s wearing, or is she more productive because she believes she will be? Does it matter?
The honest answer is probably both. The science suggests that what you wear does influence cognition. But the placebo effect is also powerful. And sometimes the two things are indistinguishable. Your brain doesn’t separate them the way we try to in our analysis.
What matters is that it works for her. After a decade at Google moving through various roles in supply chain, strategy, operations, and product engineering, she’s figured out a system that makes sense for how she works best. She’s not preaching this as universal truth. She knows it’s personal preference.
But her insight is worth considering, especially now that remote work has become permanent or semi-permanent for so many people. The assumption that home means you can let yourself go, that comfort means sweatpants and unwashed hair, isn’t mandatory.
Some people do thrive in that environment. But others find that getting dressed, even slightly, changes everything about how they show up to work.
Maybe the real productivity hack isn’t about finding the perfect app or time management system. Maybe it’s about understanding yourself well enough to know whether you’re someone who works better in Patagonia vests or whether you need the psychological boost of something a little more polished. The question becomes less about what you should wear and more about what actually makes you feel like the best version of yourself.
