It may seem crazy to dress up for classes that take place in your own home, but it is actually one of the best remote learning tips I have received. The reason why dressing up actually benefits you can be boiled down to one simple and well-known phrase: dress for success.

When I show up to my Zoom classes after showering and putting on a nice outfit, I feel significantly more ready for the day of learning than if I were to just roll out of bed and show up in my pajamas.

Dressing nicely gives me the confidence and motivation to tackle my day. If I were to wear sweatpants, I would want to go back to sleep, preventing me from concentrating or getting my work done.

That being said, you don’t have to wear something fancy, or even jeans. You just have to wear something that you don’t associate with sleep.

According to Forbes Magazine, people who dress well for work feel exceedingly confident and have an overall successful workday.

Scientific American conducted a study testing the idea that your clothing can alter your personal or professional experience. In the experiment, test subjects were asked to wear either formal or casual clothing before taking a cognitive test. The people wearing formal clothing performed better and had more abstract thinking, most likely derived from increased feelings of power. This concept is known as enclothed cognition.

Some of you may think that dressing nicely is unnecessary, as we are attending school from the comfort of our bedrooms, but it can make a real difference in your mood and mental state.

Also, when you dress up, you are giving yourself a reason to get out of bed for class. Forcing yourself to take that extra step gives you a task to complete first thing in the morning, which ultimately motivates you for the rest of the day.

That extra boost of confidence and motivation can go a long way during these saddening and isolating times that our entire community is experiencing.

Lastly, when dressed up, others perceive you more seriously. Just like when you show up to a job interview wearing a suit to impress the interviewer, wearing something nice to school impresses those around you.

When you go to your Zoom classes, take an extra five minutes to brush your hair, put on real pants or even just change out of your pajamas. While this may seem frivolous and silly, it will likely boost your productivity.

When I wake up in the morning to prepare for my seven-hour day on Zoom, the last thing I want to do is put a pair of jeans on. Why spend my few precious moments away from my various screens and responsibilities worrying about what outfit would look best over a Zoom call where everyone can only ever see half of it at most?

Online school is undoubtedly stressful, and managing school from home presents new challenges to us everyday. We all have a lot on our minds right now; managing school from home is something which none of us have had to handle before this year. However, online school has one built-in advantage: your outfit does not matter.

In a Wall Street Journal article, Cornell University Professor Vanessa Bohns supports this argument, saying, “Just putting on [formal] clothes doesn’t matter as much if you’re just as confident when you’re wearing casual clothes and you feel like you can work just as well that way.”

Although it is fine to put on more formal clothes for Zoom, dressing casually creates a much more comfortable workplace for many. Bohns still recommends changing from pajamas to casual clothes in the morning, however.

Changing clothes breaks up your relaxation time from work time, allowing you to focus on your classes and homework in the right mindset. Therefore, I would recommend your most formal pair of sweatpants for class.

When teachers and students only see the top of your shoulders, don’t waste your time stressing about an outfit nobody can see. The same Wall Street Journal article warns about the risks of dressing up too much. It can make you feel uncomfortable and self-conscious about your outfit.

Being able to sleep a little later in the morning or have a relaxing and slow breakfast is worth sacrificing the nice outfit. If that time was taken up by picking out a formal and nice outfit, something which usually turns into a long and frustrating process, I would no longer have the time to get away from school worries.

You can also take advantage of the extra time to spend at least a couple minutes away from a screen. It is important for us all to have a break from constantly staring at our computer or phone.

All of our makeshift home classrooms are luckily missing one thing: a formal dress code. Take advantage of being in the comfort of your own home. Grab a blanket, put on a pair of sweatpants and stop stressing out about your outfit. We all have enough on our plates and shouldn’t feel bad about not having the time or desire to dress up everyday.