Dressing for work – from home!
I usually work from home, occasionally going out to meetings or to run workshops for clients.
The great side of that is that I can walk the dog, and come straight in and sit at the desk and start thinking, working or whatever. The down side of that is that I often sit in my dog walking clothes all day long. While that’s definitely slovenly it too has its obvious advantage in that I’m already dressed for the next dog walk which comes just before dark (because she doesn’t like the dark much, but is better if it becomes dark while we’re out, rather than venturing out into the dark). And truly I guess it doesn’t matter, but given that I used to be oh so smart at work, it’s a bit of a come down.
Today though I have an important and scary telephone meeting where I’m pitching to do some consultancy for a small Swiss bank. Small they may be, but they are big enough as a business to get involved in Formula One sponsorship.
I started writing my notes early this morning, then at 7.30 I took the dog out for an hour. I came in, showered, tidied my beard (if i said I had a shave people would expect to see me clean shaven rather than just a bit neater), quick squirt of perfume (Penhaligons Castile) and then dressed in an ironed shirt and great trousers, I even put shoes on.
And it has worked. I feel ready to take on the call. In fact I’m really looking forward to it. But I am scared as hell. It has been years since I did something like this. I’ll be reporting back. 20 minutes to go.