I'm Wearing the Same Outfit for One Year, Here's How It's Going | Part One
Since all of this began a few months ago, I have received more than eleven hundred messages on my Instagram, Facebook, and email about this uniform project that I am doing. I’ve talked about it on radio morning shows and had a few great articles written about it in newspapers. A friend of mine recently pointed out that I have affectionately become known as “the guy from Stillwater who wears the same clothes every day.” It’s become popular enough that I’ve even got a few haters out there, which tells me I am doing something right. So, I wanted to take some time to put down a few thoughts about why I am doing this and how it has positively affected my life, my relationships, and my work as a life coach.
On October 1st, 2018 I gathered up all of my clothes and shoes and donated them to a veteran’s organization that I care about. Then, I put on an outfit that I would wear every day from that day forward for one year. For me, it is a total immersion experiment in: Minimalism & Mindfulness, Peak Performance, Maximum Productivity & Self Discipline. Also, I just wondered what it would be like to try something like this. I love authors who serve as their own guinea pigs, like A.J. Jacobs whose lifestyle experiments include a run at becoming the smartest man alive, a year of following the Bible as literally as possible, and an attempt to outsource everything in his life, including bedtime stories to his kids.
In some ways, I was just curious what would happen if I gave myself this constraint of one outfit. I’ve worn plenty of uniforms for work over the years, so, what would it mean to wear one for all of life?
The system is pretty straightforward—I have multiple copies of the same outfit, which I call “The Uniform”. I also have a sleep uniform and a gym uniform. That’s it. There are no decisions to make. So, why does it feel important to me to make fewer decisions?
It began with a question I had a few years ago: How can I make more time for my dreams? I felt like each day I was getting swallowed up by the need to make hundreds of tiny decisions. Wake up or hit snooze? Light roast or dark? Reply to this text now or later? Yes or no? Dinner at 5:00 or 6:00? Say something or bite my tongue? For here or to go? Slow down or gun it at the yellow light? Paper or plastic? Khakis or jeans? It was subtle, but I realized that this constant drip of decisions seemed to whittle away at my ability to think bigger than the moment and establish a clear vision for the future.
“ It was subtle, but I realized that this constant drip of decisions seemed to whittle away at my ability to think bigger than the moment and establish a clear vision for the future.”
This is called decision fatigue and it is a very real thing—in some ways it is similar to analysis paralysis. It is particularly dangerous and seductive because it has the capacity to keep a person stuck in place while simultaneously exhausting them with the illusion of taking action. I realized that I felt perpetually on this hamster wheel of making little decision after little decision all day long, day after day.
With that in mind, my question evolved to become this: How can I make fewer small decisions throughout the day? I knew from my years of meal prepping that having structure and predictability around food made life so much easier and, as a result, I have been able to get quite a lot accomplished and stay well fed. So, I wondered what would happen if I took this approach with my wardrobe. I wondered what would happen if I wore the same outfit every day. After all, it seemed to work for the likes of Steve Jobs, Matilda Kahl, and Mark Zuckerberg.
As soon as I started researching and implementing the project, I knew that this was so much more than simply decluttering and streamlining my life. The planning process alone became a deep emotional experience, putting me in touch with my inner fears, unhealed trauma, and wave upon wave of memory—each moving part becoming an invitation to either grow, heal, or let go.
The main question that I get is about what I will do when the seasons change, and the answer is that I will wear the same uniform rain or shine, snow or sun. It took some planning, and I found an outfit that will work in any season. The pants are a breathable fabric and the sweater can come on or off according to the temperature. I did a test-run over the summer on a 90-degree day and the combo passed the test.
“There seems to be a deep and growing interest right now in simplifying and becoming more present with life. The Uniform proposes one tool for helping make that happen. ”
In the end, the main theme for me is one of minimalism. I believe that sometimes less is more. Don’t get me wrong, there was a time in my life when I had burned every bridge and was living in my car and eating out of Starbucks dumpsters. In that case, less was certainly not more. I was miserable. Instead, I believe that being more deliberate and careful about the amount of “stuff” in our lives can lead to more fulfilling relationships with people and a deeper, richer experience of life in general—one with fewer distractions and more gratitude.
And, I don’t claim to be the first person to do this. This isn’t my original idea. I am simply doing it and talking about it publicly as often as I can. There seems to be a deep and growing interest right now in simplifying and becoming more present with life. The Uniform proposes one tool for helping make that happen.
I have had a chance to speak with tons of people who have their own version of The Uniform, and they all agree that it just makes life easier. My friends who work in health care as well as law enforcement and corrections understand this idea as a given—as one of them deftly put it, “Dude, duh.” They, in fact, have been some of my biggest inspirations.
In my work as a life coach I have noticed that most high achieving people have originated some system that minimizes their daily decision making and in Part Two I will share reflections of what I have learned and experienced in the first 100 days.
Follow the day-by-day journey on my Instagram where I post updates several times a day! Or, visit my website at www.ZachCarlsen.com
About Me | Zach Carlsen
I’m a coach, writer, teacher, and co-creator. The purpose of my work is simple: I help people get out of their own way so that they can take deliberate action to create a life that aligns with their values, inner-wisdom, and deepest vision. I am grateful to be an uncle, a boyfriend, a French-speaker and translator, as well as a poet and athlete. My Top 5 StrengthsFinder Themes are: Ideation, Connectedness, Strategic, Input, and Empathy. In Myers-Briggs terms, I am an INFJ. In astrological terms, I am a Double Cancer/Virgo. In my own terms: I am really excited to be alive. I coach and develop a team of IT badasses during the day for a software start-up in St. Paul, MN and I run an extremely busy private coaching practice on top of that. As for coaching credentials, I am a certified Strengths Coach through Gallup, Inc. I also have a few degrees in English, French, and Pedagogy from the University of Minnesota and the University of Montana. Recently, I served as the interim Chair of the Board of Directors at Empower Survivors, an organization dedicated to supporting the healing of survivors, educating communities, and preventing childhood abuse.