I’ve talked about working from home here before. I feel very lucky to be able to tailor my work: screenwriting, preparing posts for ‘Trace’, and managing my business interests from my office at home. It’s certainly not for everyone and it wouldn’t have been for me when I was starting my career.

Getting dressed, and I don’t mean yoga pants, a t-shirt and flip flops, before I step into my home office at the start of each day is important to me. Putting on an actual outfit makes me feel like the professional I like to think I am.  It helps me to perform at my best, to believe I can compete with the top people in my various fields of endeavor, and when I do pop out to run an errand or when a friend or an associate drops by I never need to apologize for how I look.

In fact, writing a style blog has helped me to lift my game in the fashion stakes. When I look at my reflection in the mirror each morning, hair done, make-up on, I ask myself whether I would make the cut on my own street style blog looking like I do. It’s a great way to check my own presentation!

As an aside, my husband always appreciates the effort I make each day, but I’m not doing it for him, I’m doing it for me. I want to give myself the best chance I can of achieving success, confidence, and happiness. If a thoughtfully chosen outfit, clean hair, make-up, and accessories can help me with that, I’m going to use them…every day!

Here are some other great tips for working from home successfully:

11 ways to stay motivated while working from home – Forbes.com