Simplify your wardrobe and beat back decision fatigue. Here’s why you should wear the same thing every day by creating your own personal uniform.

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About 16 years ago, my then fiancee (now wife) and I got rid of just about everything we owned to chase our dream of living in New York City.

We had to consolidate two lives and two apartments from suburbia into a studio apartment in Manhattan.

Fewer things will lead you to become a minimalist and anti-consumerist more than just not having the space for … well, anything.

It was a crazy adjustment.

But one we were happy to make.

Nearly 16 years later, we are still living in NYC (technically Brooklyn) now with two kids in a slightly larger two bedroom apartment.

It’s still super small by suburban living standards. But our minimalist-adjacent principles still remain. We simply don’t have room for stuff.

As you can imagine, our closet-sized apartment doesn’t have the most extravagant closet space.

I started embracing a minimalist approach to my wardrobe lately and I’m blown away at how much more than just space I ended up saving.

By drilling down what I wear every day to a few staples and regularly-recurring colors and items, I ended up removing one of my biggest stressors: making a ton of decisions.

You are overwhelmed, overstimulated, and burned the hell out.

The last thing you need in your busy day is to be inundated with more decisions throughout your day.

Simplifying your life helps remove some of those decisions from your day so you can let your mind take a break.

Let’s get into it.

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We make over 35,000 decisions every single day

From what time you wake up, then deciding to hit the snooze button (multiple times), to grabbing your phone to scroll, adding cream to your coffee … even choosing to read this newsletter.

There are all just a few of the many decisions that you’ll make today.

It’s fascinating.

It’s also exhausting.

Over time, all of those little decisions you make add up like reps in a strength training workout.

The mind needs a break from all that work.

And if you don’t slow it down to rest from that work, the brain will just basically force you to take a break by looking for simple, easy, comfortable choices to make instead.

This is called decision fatigue

When decision fatigue sets in, you’ll feel many of the same symptoms as burnout. It’s like a micro version of the larger sibling. Both making you more likely to default to making easier choices.

This is why at the end of a long day of putting out a bunch of fires in the office and at home, you’re no longer craving that chicken breast dish you planned to make for dinner.

You’d rather have the pasta or just order UberEats.

And in this day and age, if you’re reading this newsletter, you’re likely experiencing burnout, overwhelm and decision fatigue on a regular basis.

One of the best ways to alleviate this common culprit is to take the pressure off of the mind and its many decisions by simplifying as much as possible.

You want to automate things with systems to remove as many decisions as you can.

What you wear is just one of the many decisions that seem harmless on the surface, but at the end of the day, it can lead to even more decision fatigue.

A personal uniform is nothing new

Steve Jobs was known for wearing all black with a turtleneck as his personal uniform.

Designer Karl Lagerfeld reportedly owned 1,000 versions of the same collared shirt. And he always paired that shirt with a black jacket and shades.

Vera Wang is often seen wearing leggings and a tunic.

President Obama wore similar suits every day.

“You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make. You need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to routinize yourself. You can’t be going through the day distracted by trivia.”

– President Barack Obama

Of course except for the tan suit abomination that ended up being a national state of emergency.

Remember when fashion choices were the biggest scandal to come out of the White House?

But I digress.

All of the above understood the necessity of systemizing their life and removing as many unnecessary decisions as possible.

I started creating little uniforms to simplify my wardrobe

During my workday, I have pants and shirts that I wear (even though I work from home).

I bought multiple pairs of the same exact pants and a few shirts of the same style, but in two to three different colors.

When I’m being lazy around the house, I have a loungewear uniform.

My workout gear is the same rotation of shorts and tees.

No decisions to make about my wardrobe every morning, my outfit is already picked for me so I can get right into it.

If I’m clouding my slow morning ritual with undue stress over what to wear, that’s just one seemingly small anxiety that could lead to an avalanche of angst.

Simplify every freaking thing.

Wear the same thing every day, yet still be stylish(ish)

Before we get started, you must understand two crucial things:

1. Your office doesn’t owe you shit.
2. Those coworkers of yours are so wrapped up in their own purgatory that they’ll never even notice.

Create your own personal uniform for work.

Here’s how do it without overthinking the entire thing.

Pick a style of shirt that you like and buy it multiple times. Different colors if you’d like—you don’t have to do the daily all-black turtleneck like Steve Jobs.

Do the same thing with pants and then add in a couple of layers.

Stop spending top dollar on the fanciest of threads just to show off in your meeting (or Zoom call).

Instead, you’ll have a rotation of clothes that you can cycle through without giving it much thought.

No more struggling through the closet and wardrobe trying to pick the best outfits and then matching items.

You’ve automated your work outfit and have removed a major decision from your days and weeks.

I create similar systems for the rest of my life

Eat similar meals during the week.

Back in my corporate days, coworkers would always offer up a slice of the free pizza and I’d always decline.

I wasn’t there to blow up my diet with unnecessary calories on cheap eats with people I barely tolerated.

I still eat the same breakfast and lunch just about every day. Both meals include protein and tons of fiber along with healthy fats.

It’s a major reason why I’ve been able to stay in great shape after 40.

My finances are automated

I pay for just about everything with my AMEX card and then pay that off once a month.

It takes about 15 minutes every four weeks to check in on my savings and investments.

Hopefully the personal uniform idea inspires you to find other areas in your life that can be simplified and/or automated, too. Get creative.

No one cares that I wear the same thing every day

Adulting, career, parenting … these are lifelong responsibilities, my friend.

They aren’t going anywhere.

Even if you’re exhausted or burned out, successful and rich as fuck, you’ll still have to get shit done.

Therefore, it’s up to you to find better systems to get that shit done more efficiently.

Otherwise, you’ll continue to spin your wheels, get overwhelmed, anxious, and then burn yourself out.

I wear the same thing every day because it’s one less anxiety-inducing decision that I need to make and helps me get the day started stress-free.

Simplify your wardrobe. Simplify your life.

Wear the same thing every day.

No one is gonna know; no one is gonna care.

Promise.

I hope you found this useful. If so, I’d appreciate it if you sent this newsletter to one person you think would benefit from my writing today.

And if you’re new here and enjoyed this newsletter, I’d be honored if you subscribed for more at this link.

And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “I wear the same thing every day” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete