Laziness and a lack of fashion sense might not be the only reason why Mark Zuckerberg wears the same grey T-shirt every day — it could also be a sign of genius, according to psychologist Oliver Burkeman, who has studied the habit of genius.
During a public Facebook Q&A session in Menlo Park, someone asked Mark the important question of why he wears the same grey t-shirt every day.
His answer:
“I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community.”
“I’m in this really lucky position, where I get to wake up every day and help serve more than a billion people. And I feel like I’m not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on things that are silly or frivolous about my life.”
And yes, “decision fatigue” is real, and it’s common among successful people. To reduce the decisions they have to make on unnecessary things, these people basically adopt some standards and one thing that’s incredibly common among them is that they wear the same thing every day. Well, this is certainly an act of genius.
Psychologist Oliver Burkeman also explains that sticking to a very fixed routine can help a mind focus on the more important issues:
“It was William James […] who best articulated the mechanism by which a strict routine might help unleash the imagination. Only by rendering many aspects of daily life automatic and habitual, he argued, could we “free our minds to advance to really interesting fields of action”.
“Subsequent findings about “cognitive bandwidth” and the limitations of willpower have largely substantiated James’s hunch: if you waste resources trying to decide when or where to work, you’ll impede your capacity to do the work.”
Remember Steve Jobs? He wore black turtlenecks almost every day of the year. Barack Obama – a blue or gray suit. And they all did it for one reason – to pare down decisions.
Albert Einstein, too, had multiple versions of the same suit. And Christopher Nolan, the film director told the New York Times that it was “a waste of energy to choose anew what to wear each day.” [Mirror]
Do you own multiple versions of the same shirt, too?
ScienceSwitch 
Barack Hussein Obama is NO genius. In fact he’s light years from it.
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Being dirty and call it intelligence? Sorry but then each of us can make up a story and I would not be surprised if the feedback was positive just like here:-) Wake up people! Trusting articles based on “somebody said it may be”. Come to Europe and you will be surprised with completely different reactions to nearly political claims like “I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community.” Very low article!
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Steve jobs always wears the black shirt ! Thats true
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I wear the same smile when I wake up each morning and the same frown when I go to bed.
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What about multiple intelligences that acknowledge other qualities?
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Hmmmh. I do get why people do this, nothing like wasting time deciding what to wear each day, especially if you haven’t prepared or had time to prepare clothes the day before.
I think if someone is going to wear the same style of garment each day, the color needs to be changed and there needs to be some ‘class’ and ‘quality’ of the garment. Good looking people can get away with simple, well cut/made items.
If you are challenged in the looks department, the item needs to stand out more and compliment the wearer both in fit and color. Definitely not flattering to wear exactly the same colored main garment everyday and it is unflattering, it doesn’t matter how much time the garment saves on dressing!
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I might be impoverished as dapperdolly suggests, but identifying my fashion-impaired quality as a sign of genius – gives me a better retort to my wife’s helpful suggestion that I change my shirt… I mean aside from B.O.
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Actually it’s called poverty and lack of time for a lot of people instead of an indicator of their intelligence just like being able to pay attention to appearance does not mean lower intelligence. In this guy’s case he’s probably just trying to make his own trademark since and he doesn’t have distinguishing features – the Black polo neck was already done.
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I wish people around me would think that instead of “ohh she wearing the same tops/outfit” in negative thought, there’s this girl remember what I wore ages ago, n’ she claim herself has a smart brain,not sure why she would use her so called smart brain remembering my outfit
Anyway, interesting post n’ thanks for liking n’ stopping by on my blog 😀
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Thank you for liking “Happy Thanksgiving.” This article made me laugh. 🙂 I did not really notice what Mark Zuckerberg wore until I read this article. I suppose he can think better in clothes that he feels comfortable in, but I am not sure wearing the same shirt every day is a sign of genius.
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Actually, the artist Frida Kahlo spent lots of time dressing and adorning herself in myriads of different outfits. But I think she is an artistic genius. It depends on what one does.
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I’m all for keeping it simple, humble, and real- no matter how vast your resources!:)
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Thanks for the wonderful comment. 🙂
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I san only say “Hmmmmm …” – to both Zuckerberg’s devotion to us, and the concept of geniuses wearing the same shirt. [grin]
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Yes, yes! I get it. 🙂
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Know I know I’m not the only one who wears the same thing as much as possible. 🙂
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Looks like I found a genius here. 🙂
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This would mean that there are a lot of middle school genius males!
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Maybe, but who knows some could be just lazy. 🙂
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Most engineers and scientists don’t pay attention to appearance like others do. Yeah, they don’t want to waste their time 🙂
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Yeah, for the professions like that, that’s the right thing to do. 🙂
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No, I don’t have multiples of the same shirt, but maybe I should.
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Yeah, so you don’t have to waste much time deciding what to wear. 🙂
Hey, check this out as well — http://sparkonit.com/2014/01/10/are-you-a-genius-read-these-signs-and-find-out/
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Interesting. Thanks and Love, nia
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Thanks! 🙂
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