This won’t be a productivity hack. I’m not sure I have any great advice for you there. From my perspective, if you’ve made it through the day, taken care of your people, and have done some stuff for yourself, you’ve had a pretty good turn at bat. Nice work.

But I would suggest you might put on some pants. Here’s a little story.

Like many these days, I’m straddling some pretty blurry lines between what I will call my wake-up shorts (which were also my pajama shorts…which may also be my workout shorts) and my work-day pants–an old pair of jeans.

I don’t have any fashion advice, and as I mentioned above this won’t concern productivity, but I do have some thoughts on how you might feel better if you happen to be meandering a little bit and don’t like how that knocks around in your brain:

Put on some pants.

This isn’t scientifical knowledge, of course. And it probably doesn’t have to be pants. You could turn on a desk lamp, or put on some shoes, or maybe just go from a couch to a chair.

The point–and it’s small but perhaps significant–is that a quick costume or scene change can change the story you’re telling yourself.

I might have written five blogs and ten client programs in my gym shorts, but I don’t generally feel like I’ve done my job until i put my jeans on. There’s something about that costume change that flicks a switch in my brain and tells me it’s okay to consider that I’ve had a pretty decent day. And filing this all under self-care, a little of that right now goes a long way!

So put on some pants. In a nice light. So you can sit in a chair or walk around the house in your nice shoes.

But mostly, so you feel better. That’s pretty important.