Thinking in Public
What's your uniform? Your uniform is your brand. It's what you want to say. Some people want to say many things, some only want to say one thing. You decide yours.
Instead of always changing it, remove the distraction and focus, like Barack. In a 2012 Vanity Fair profile by Michael Lewis, Obama said he wears only gray or blue suits so he has fewer decisions to make. Lewis talked about it on NPR.
At his first public Q&A, on November 6, 2014, Mark Zuckerberg explained why he wears a version of the same grey T-shirt: he wants to make as few decisions as possible about his own life, so more of his attention goes to the community he serves.
Obama and Zuckerberg picked a look that removes a daily choice. The same move works at any budget, because the point is the repetition.
Think of the days you feel most like yourself and look at what you wore. Write the one thing you want people to know when you walk in. Buy five of whatever matches it.
Wear it for 30 days. Then check how much time you spent on the question each morning.
Pick the one thing you want to say, and wear it.