This psychological effect that clothes have on our behaviour and thinking is called enclothed cognition. Choosing a casual but serious outfit will give you more focus on your study time.

What kind of symbolic meaning does each item of clothing have when you sit down to study?

Perhaps as you get dressed ready for your study session, you can think of it as “getting dressed to be more productive and work to your advantage.” Try to mindfully incorporate the findings from enclothed cognition experiments to intentionally shape your subjective psychological experience and performance in your study sessions each day. You could also try to incorporate them when you have, say, a job interview, a date, or an important test.

Here's the way I go about it: The night before, I take a moment to check in with myself and ask, “what do I want to feel like tomorrow?” Once I’ve identified the intended feeling state or adjective (e.g., intellectual, friendly, focused, confident, composed, loving), I am halfway there.

Next, I ask myself, “which of my clothes will make me feel that way? What colour(s) will make me feel that way?”

Once I've chosen the clothing that symbolises the psychological state I want to achieve, I just march on over to my closet the next morning (no doubt, you'll have a new pep to your step) and pull out those pieces.

So, brush your teeth, get dressed and put on a little perfume! Though the idea of studying in your dressing gown might seem nice, waking up early in the morning to study from home is not productive if you’re dressed for a laid-back day. Dress and groom yourself as if you might run into a client or colleague. You could even choose a uniform of sorts for your work-at-home days. In his book The 5 AM Club, Robin Sharma recommends that after you get out of bed you should go and brush your teeth, because it helps you "finish waking up" and be ready to take advantage of those precious hours of the dawning.

In my personal experience, I usually put on a bit of perfume too, which gives me the feeling that I am ready to go out to a meeting—only this meeting will be at my desk.