We’ve all experienced the thrill of a personality test. Accurate or not, putting yourself in a bucket can be weirdly satisfying, and in some cases, help you learn something about yourself. I experienced this first hand at an M.M. offsite a few years ago, during a workshop led by Conley Zani, a consultant who works with companies to develop better leaders and teams. The workshop was focused on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (also known as MBTI), a personality framework that assigns you a “type,” taking into account “tendencies” like introversion vs. extraversion and thinking vs. feeling. 

MBTI is far from a perfect science (as this new documentary points out) and should definitely not be used for hiring—but I found value in the way Conley spoke about it in that workshop. Conley, among other experts, uses the MBTI framework to talk about stressors and energizers and the ways in which they differ from person to person. For me, this inward-looking approach was helpful, and I wondered if this type of self-reflection could be used to help us build more energizing moments into our daily lives.

“Everybody is stressed, so now’s the time to pause and be thoughtful about yourself. Myers-Briggs is a great tool to help you do that,” says Conley. “For example, people with the SP—observant and prospecting—combination are the experiencers. The four types that fall into that category love being in nature, love a challenge, and typically love to exercise. If you know that those are the things you need to do to recharge, do more of that. On the other hand, there might be the types that actually need to do less of that experience stuff and benefit more from meditation and calm settings. Overall, it’s about knowing yourself, so you can find those tools that help you.”

Conley also gave an example from her own life. She’s someone who de-stresses by exercising, but she knows she won’t be motivated to get moving after her meetings unless she’s already wearing her workout clothes. (Relatable, am I right?) So, throughout quarantine, she’s been wearing her leggings and tank tops to meetings, disguised under her favorite M.M. blazer.

Wearing the right thing at the right time isn’t going to solve your anxiety. (If it could, I wouldn’t have a many-days-overdue to-do list item telling me to look for therapists in my network.) But using clothes strategically might give you the nudge you need to care for yourself just a little bit better. Here are some small ideas to consider, depending on how you de-stress.