Week 4: The Batman Effect
This Monday was hectic. Immediately after making an effort last Monday (I thought I looked pretty great), I got the nastiest cold and wound up being out from work for several days. So that meant when I made it back to work finally, there was a lot of catching up to do.
I barely got to step away from my desk all day. It felt like as soon as I completed one task, two more would crop up. That's how it is sometimes.
The funny thing is, I plowed through with more focus and determination than I can usually muster, and I got everything done by the end of the day.
I'm a hard worker in general, but anytime my mind started to stray or I found myself wanting to take a break, I remembered how professional I looked, and I stuck to it. I was dressed as the character of the serious businesswoman, and I played her to a T!
And the next morning I learned about "The Batman Effect."
In a study conducted across the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Michigan, preschool-aged were more focused on tasks the researchers assigned them when they were dressed as characters (Batman, Dora, etc.). The kids were given tasks and distractions (iPads, ooh la la). One group of children was dressed normally and told to think "am I working hard?" A second group was dressed normally and told to think in the third person (e.g. "Is Sally working hard?"). Finally, the third group of children was dressed as characters they looked up to and told to think in the third person as those characters. Turns out, if you are dressed like Batman and ask yourself "is Batman working hard?" the answer is most likely "Yeah, he is!"
Yes, it was a study conducted on a group of toddlers, but it definitely worked on me, too. Business Becca worked a lot harder and with more concentrated effort than normally frumpy Becca does.
Make an Effort Mondays might need extend to the other days of the week...
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| Week 3's effort outfit. Why, yes. That IS a romper over tights. |
The funny thing is, I plowed through with more focus and determination than I can usually muster, and I got everything done by the end of the day.
I'm a hard worker in general, but anytime my mind started to stray or I found myself wanting to take a break, I remembered how professional I looked, and I stuck to it. I was dressed as the character of the serious businesswoman, and I played her to a T!
And the next morning I learned about "The Batman Effect."
In a study conducted across the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Michigan, preschool-aged were more focused on tasks the researchers assigned them when they were dressed as characters (Batman, Dora, etc.). The kids were given tasks and distractions (iPads, ooh la la). One group of children was dressed normally and told to think "am I working hard?" A second group was dressed normally and told to think in the third person (e.g. "Is Sally working hard?"). Finally, the third group of children was dressed as characters they looked up to and told to think in the third person as those characters. Turns out, if you are dressed like Batman and ask yourself "is Batman working hard?" the answer is most likely "Yeah, he is!"
Yes, it was a study conducted on a group of toddlers, but it definitely worked on me, too. Business Becca worked a lot harder and with more concentrated effort than normally frumpy Becca does.
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| Business Becca owns a curling iron. |
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